Digimorphs! Season 03
by Alex Warlorn
Summary: When Yamaki releases a digital virus to TRY and kill digimon and fails: it has side effects on all humans it infects. Humans transform to digimon! Who will survive the change? Will Rika's soul? Last Chapter Now Up. Thank you everyone.
1. Infection

This story was written and is still being written on www.sonicfoundation.org 's message board along with Aaron Max and JW aka Katana aka Zrex . 

Got this song off the net, don't have a clue who wrote it, ( http://www.c4vct.com/kym/slachash/nogiveup/mws-dgu.rm ) I change it a bit but not much, it fits Rika's locked away light side. (though now I think it would been better for Jeri)   
This also contains plently of liberity with Renamon and Rika's unexplored histories. (not all love is romance has details on it, but you do NOT need to read it to understnad this in the LEAST)   


Hypnosis, non-existent to the media, just like the aftfical life forms they sought to delete from existence that had repeated caused damage. Seemingly a noble goal. But when it was under the control of a medglomacial despot, good intention could bring harmful results.   
"Sir. This new program hasn't been fully tested yet." Said   
technician.   
"Are you saying that I'm incapable of writting a working program myself!" Snarled Yamako to her.   
"No sir! It's just that this program might have unforseen side effects."   
"Those ideots have put Juggernaut on hold until . . . 'further testing' is complete. I won't let digital monsters continue to infest the real world. This program is my back up plan. Run the program now!"   
"Y-yes sir." 

Riley punched in a few more buttons as a status screen opened on one of the dome screens.   
======================================   
"Here ya go." Takato handed Guilmon a loaf of bread. "Mmm.. Yummy. Your parents make good bread Takatomon." Guilmon choked out. His Tamer sighed, "I'm not a -mon. I'm a human." "I've never heard of Humon. Is it strong?" Takato slapped his forehead, "I give up. You're impossible." They both laughed and Guilmon continued eating his snack. 'Mrs. Usagi gave me the essay of doom as punishment. I hate to leave him here, but I'll be in deep if I don't get it done.' "Guilmon," he said, "I have some severe homework and I should go work on it. Bye." Takato grabbed his backpack (now much lighter) and opened the iron gate. Suddenly, his Digivice started glowing crimson red. "Wha... a Digimon!" His Digivice went into map mode. "Its in the downtown area. Come on, Guilmon. We have work to do." "Ohhrkay! *gulp* Right behind you!"   
==================================== 

"Sir, our scan for a glitches is now operational." Riley commented to Yamaki. "SCAN!!!" He screamed, "I don't remember authorizing a scan. I want the actual thing working and I want it working NOW! What am I paying you for, incompetence!?" "Wow, he's nice." Tilley whispered to her coworker. Riley responded, "We don't get paid enough to put up with his temper." She then clicked a few more buttons and the window closed. "Hypnos core activated. Energy output at maximum. Uploading program: FinalAnswer.exe" Yamaki smiled. The computer's voice was more than enough to cheer him up. "Sir," Riley interrupted his train of thought, "A Wild One has appeared." "Where?" "Shibuya district. There are three other lifeforms headed that way." He snarled. "Those kids again! I gave them fair warning. Why do they keep interfering? I'll make them feel my power! Stop the upload!" "Wha..?" "JUST DO IT! Now, find some wat to get it into that Wild One." 

Takato and Guilmon were almost there! The Digital Field was only a bit further. A pier with a large, brick building along its edge. They entered the thick fog. "Alright. here we go. Hey, look! Lee and Terriermon are already fighting" He took off his goggles and saw the fierce battle raging. Terriermon already seemed to be beaten up pretty badly, scarred and troubled to stand up. "It's about time you showed up!" Lee shouted over the haze. "Sorry. So what are we up against here?" "That." Guilmon and his Tamer glanced at the wall of the building. "Whoa!"   
Yasyamon   
An Armored Digimon, he seems weak. But don't get him angry, those wood sticks are more powerful than most swords!   
The evil marionette landed, head falling limply to his shoulder. "Hahaha! There are two of you now? No matter. The more the merrier! Gordian Knot!" He charged Terriermon with the two sticks, then wrapped him in a thick cocoon with red laces. "Leave him alone!" Screamed Guilmon. "Oh? And what can you do? You act more childish than him! Ha ha ha ha!" Takato was infuriated, "Guilmon, you show him who acts childish! Get 'em!" The red dinosaur used his Pyro Sphere, missing by a mile. Of course, it wouldn't have been so bad if Yasyamon wasn't jumping around like a mad kangaroo! "He's too fast!" "Don't worry, I have something for that." Lee commented, drawing a card from his deck. "DigiModify: Targeting ACTIVATE!" A blue, opaque visor appeared over Terriermon's eyes. "There! I see him! Locked-on! Bunny Blast!" He spat a small energy pellet, knocking Yasyamon from the sky. It landed on the floor with a hard thud. "Nice shot!" 

http://www.megchan.com/digimon/encyclopedia/cards/st125.jpg 

_Yasyamon_   
_Gordian Knot_   
_Puppet Master_

"What are you weaklings doing here? This is going to be MY kill!" Said Rika coldly seeing the two other Tamer as she entered the digital field.   
"Is killing all you ever think about!" Retorted Lee.   
Rika ignored the question. "So where's our sparing partner?" Asked Rika Renamon fazing in besides her. 

They all gazed around. "I though he was out cold on the ground over there, where Terriermon blasted him." Suddenly, a voice boomed out, "Fools! I'm right above you." Lee turned in time to get smacked in the face with one of Yasyamon's sticks. "Aaargh!" "Renamon, pulverize him!" "As you wish." The vixen Digimon leapt into the air. "Diamond Storm!" Yasyamon laughed, then sidestepped the barrage of energy. "Is that your best shot? I've seen more powerful attacks from a gust of wind. Now behold... Puppet Master!" He shot string from his hands and onto Renamon. "Can't... control! Rika! Look out!" Unable to control her body, she fired a Diamond Storm at her Tamer. Rika ducked down. "Huh?" Takato's form was whited out in the storm of energy. "Thanks a lot. I was standing behind you." he mumbled, a bit charred from the attack. "Sorry." Lee noted the enemy's movements. Probing for even a second of weakness. "Now! He's holding still! DigiModify: Power ACTIVATE!" Terriermon felt pumped. "Lemmie at 'em. I'll beat him up! Terrier Tornado!" The little Digimon worked himself into a good spin, then slammed Yasyamon a good one. "Wha... augh!" The foe went flying into the building wall, leaving his imprinted form in the bricks. "I'll... make you... pay for that. I swear it!" "Not today! Bunny Blast!" He shot a large, even more powerful energy pellet that had a recoil strong enough to knock him off his feet. "No..." It connected! Yasyamon screamed a horrible, ear-piercing screech and Digivaporated away. The little bits of data flowed into Terriermon, making him that much more powerful.   
=====================================   
"Sir, the Wild One has been eraticated." "Did you load FinalAnswer into it?" Yamaki calmly inquired. Tilley responded, "No sir. It only loaded 64%. Not enough to have an effect." He banged his fist on the metal table beside him. "Next time..." 

Takatomon you ok?" Said Guilmon looking at his creator concerned when he had to grap hold of something to keep from falling, it just happened to be Rika.   
"Can you please get off?" She said flatly. Tokato realized what he was doing, blussed and quickly stood on his own two feet.   
"I-I'm find Guilmon I just got dizzy for a second."   
Dizzy? Of all the cheap- Renamon had to grap Rika to keep her from planting her face in the concrete as the girl too, felt her legs for a moment go out from under her. 

Rika quickly got back to her feet. "Augh! What is this? An earthquake?" "No. Look! Yasyamon hit the wall hard. Too hard! The building is collapsing! Run!" Lee grabbed Terriermon and dashed away. "Thank God the builing wasn't occupied." Takato said from back outside the Digital Field. "Everyone alright?" "Yeah" "I'm fine. I coulda handled that weirdo by myself. But... thanks for the help anyway." And with that, Rika turned her back and ran off. Renamon just faded into the shadows, as she always does. "Why are they like that?" Takato pondered out loud, "Oh no. I hear the cops coming. Run, before they think we destroyed the building!!" As they took off, fast as their feet would carry them, Lee responded, "Um... Takato? We did destroy the building."   
======================================   
Sir, perhaps if we can upload your program into Hypnos faster, we might succeed." Riley took off her visor. "Oh," inquired Yamaki, "And how would we go about doing that?" "Well, if we can pinpoint the quadratic vectors of emergence, then..."   
======================================   
"Quite a battle, huh Guilmon?" "Nothing big." He responded. Takato laid alone with Guilmon on the grass, looking up at the sky. "Hmm... well I'm gonna get a punishment you could make a movie out of if I don't start the essay." Guilmon looked confused, "What's an essay, anyways?" "It's a long, boring, report." Takato looked back into the sky, watching the sun fall below the horizon. He thought to himself, 'It must be nice to be so carefree. Like Guilmon. Gets to hang out in his lair all day and sleep and dig.' He sighed and petted Guilmon's head. "See you tomorrow, buddy." 

As Rika walked home she felt her head drift again as she nearly fell. Rika knew she could not blame THAT one on any building falling down. But she wasn't about to admit there was something wrong with her and continued walking. Renamon in shadow form looked on with concern. When Rika got home he didn't even bother to lie to her mother, she simply said 'none of your business' it was actully a fair statment, since the woman was out for photo shots almost constantly. Rika's grand mother too more care of her.   
Heh, Renamon was more of a mother to her than her real mother, thought Rika with amusment. 

"Hi Mom! Hi Dad!" Takato said running up staires, kicking his shoes off, he was still trying to figure out a good champion form for guildmon, he considered giving him a bone helmet but he was doing his best not to make him too much like Aguemon. Like any fan made character(let's face it, that's what he is) Guilmon was both fancy looking, a power house, and occasionally rediculas in put into actuall use.   
Takato felt dizzy suddenly and trip on the stairs falling back down.   
"Takato! You should know better than to run up the stair like that." Repremanded his mother.   
Ugh! That never happened before. He had run up thoughs stair before he knew how to talk, and never once had he faultered. Well, it propaply just a fluke.   
"These dishes arn't going to do themselves young man." Reminded his father.   
The forth recorded Tamer moaned. 

The Japanese/Chinese boy was assulted at once upon entering his family's aparment.   
"Terriermon your home!" Shouted Suzie (Lee's littlist sister) happily taking the digimon by the neck and took him to the chamber of doom, (aka her room) Lee took pity on his partner but couldn't help but smile.   
"She's happy . . . is she fun to play with?" Lee couldn't help but moan. He saw on the closed windowcill (so much for the theory that locks doors could stop him) a white digimon with a red triangle mark in his tiny forehead, he was small enough to be a carnavel prize.   
Calamon's ears tripled in size and he hopped down onto the ruge.   
"Calamon!" Said Lee sternly. "What are you doing here?"   
"Guilmon's too sleepy to play with, I don't want to go near Rika right now, and Impmon tried to delete me when I asked him to play with me."   
I wonder why. "Is playing all you think about?"   
"Yes."   
"Figures." They REALLY needed to find this guy a tamer, he remembered when they had considered Suzie, but Lee wouldn't wish Terriermon's fate on any other digimon.   
"Lee I'm home." Came the voice of his father as the door's lock clicked. Thinking only as fast as a martshal artist can, Lee took Calamon put him on the couch and placed a throw pillow over him. 

"Oh. Uh... Hi Dad!" Lee tried not act suspicious. "Hi son. Hard day at work today. The network was down and I had to reboot the whole thing." Mr. Wong put down his briefcase and walked over to the refridgerator. Upon grabbing a coke, he hobbled over to the sofa. "Wait, Dad! I... don't think you should sit there." Lee said. "Why not?" "Because, well, that other side has a pillow." Mr. Wong looked confused, but sat down... right on Calumon!! "Oh, that Star Trek marathon is coming out." He chuckled all the way to his room. 'Am I usually this cruel to Digimon?' he thought, 'Well, I guess Calumon does need to learn how to sit still. For about 4 hours.' He couldn't help but laugh.   
That evening, while everyone was asleep, Lee stealthily crept up to the couch. He pushed the pillow aside to find Calumon, dizzy-eyed and somewhat flattened. "Sorry about that, Calumon." "That was something I never want to experience again. And your dad had beans for lunch! I don't like you anymore!" The little Digimon bounced to the windowsill and flew into the night sky. "Zoom zoom!" Henry closed the window and was about to go back to bed when a sick feeling swept over him. Then, just as suddenly as it had come, it was gone. "Probably Dad's cooking." 

"Riku . . ." Her grandmother started.   
"It's Rika!" The girl snarled as she slammed the door to her room without even forging for food, this worried her grandmother, she was shutting them all out of her live, they barly saw her anymore. Though there was no way Riku could of remember him, she was most differently becoming her father's child. 

In spit of having known Rika for so long, there were still mysteries surounding the 'Digimon Queen' that even Renamon hadn't unraveled yet. For one, was Rika as much a tom boy as she made out to be, or was she simply getting back at her feminine mother, being everything she wasn't.   
Renamon always stayed near her like this. Like a persodo gaurdain angel. It was inreadable how innocent people looked when asleep, Rika's sleeping face lacking that cold blooded stare she always had when she awake. The girl moaned in her sleep and turned on her side, that was the second time this night, the Kitesune digimon thought.   
Renamon modfied her data from a shadow on the wall to her phyical shape.   
She hunched over her Tamer, it was almost impossible to sense the amount of void inside her when she was like this indeed. The fox stroke her loose hair back, and began a quite lullby to the sleeping girl. 

_I remember when you took a stand_   
_With a soul of desire_

_You had your role against the world_   
_A lion inside of a little girl_   
_So unafraid of the fire._

_But those days don't last_   
_Sweet dreams die fast_   
_A stumble when you walk on the wire_

_When all others_   
_Start giving in_   
_The flames are burning higher and higher_

_Don't give up Rika_   
_Got the whole world at your feet_   
_Just keep on holding on_   
_This is where you need to be_

_All the days that you've been spending_   
_You're spinning while your heart's descending_   
_Like a stone in the ocean_   
_Sometimes when you think the world is ending_   
_It's really just a new beginning_   
_The other side of emotion_

_But I've seen your eyes_   
_No compromise_   
_When you set your mind on the matter_   
_Be strong through the tears_   
_And your sight will clear_   
_You're gonna get what you're after_

_Don't be surprised when the road divides,_   
_Just take the one less traveled by._

_Don't give up Rika_   
_Got the whole world at your feet_   
_Just keep on holding on_   
_This is where you need to be_   


Okay, she couldn't write lyrics for beans, but at least her voice was smoothing.   
This wasn't the first time Renamon had done this, or even the second. Once Rika had been half awake during one of these times, and the cold blooded Tamer assumed it was her mother trying to make amends for not being with her during the day, she never looked her in the eye though, and propaply would be in for a shock if she did. She remembered what had happened that day, when her attack had accidently been derected at Rika . . . it made Renamon shiver. She didn't replace Reremon, but maybe Renamon could make up for the death of her natural child with her unoffical sarrogate daughter. She knew exactly what Rika's reaction to that would be if she knew that was how Renamon felt . . . 

Calamon finnished washing himself off in the park fountain, maybe he'd try to see Terriermon later. It was impossible for the child digimon to stay angery at anyone for long. He still couldn't figure out wht Impmon was so mean to everyone.   
The little living collection of information got a second bath as he fell back in. He had lost his balence as he felt something weird. He couldn't tell what. It was sorte like that weird feeling he got when Terriermon digivoled. It wasn't an inturnal feeling, more like someone else felt sick and Calamon could sense it. There were times when the digimon confused himself. Calamon's head hurt from the high level of mental processing. 

Takato woke up, his half finnished drawings of Guilmon's champion form littered his bed sheet and went it the air as he threw it off and made a mad dash for the bath room. Using his medeocter night vision he ramed into the bathroom sink and off loaded his dinner into it. He heaved again, and again, until he was coughing up bitter yellow liqude. Takato sank down resting himself aganst the wall. Bad cooking was not something that plaged the third incartion of 'goggle boy' unlike his 'fiction' predecessors, so Takato knew he had caught a bug or something.   
"Why don't I ever just get the runny noses?" He moaned, and about fifteen minutes later he managed to gather the strength to get back into his bed room and climb into bed. 

Why was it so hot tonight? thought Lee Wrong as he took off his pajama top and tossed it out of the bed letting the cool night air flow over his hot skin and he difted back to sleep. 

The next morning, Lee woke to find he had been using Terriermon's ear as a pillow. That's ok. Terriermon had been using his hair like a nest. It did seem to be getting longer. "Probably need a haircut soon." He yawned, and stretched, and threw Terriermon from his head. He knew he had a really cool dream last night. But couldn't remember any of it. Saturday. "The one day teachers can't ruin our day with a pop quiz or homework." He got up and started dressing. 

Things weren't so good for Takato. He had woke up even sicker than he was last night. Bedridden and dizzy, he was glad that at least he had nothing left in his stomach to throw up. He reached for the remote to watch cartoons. "They're already over..." he groaned. He covered his face with the pillow and hid from the rest of the world.   
======================================   
"Sir, another one is coming." "Where?" "Quadrant 19." Yamaki clicked his lighter some more. "Ready the program. I want that Wild One infected ASAP." The two girls began working on releasing the program. "Wild One ETA: 1 hour, 24 minutes. Plenty of time." One of them reported. Scanning for data, Tilley noticed this one was extremely powerful. More powerful than anything they had seen so far. "I hope we know what we're getting into here." 

Rika was doing what she did every saterday, orginize her digimon cards, without so much as saying hello to her family, Rika grap the table top as another dizzy spell hit her, like the one that had made her head bump into the dresser. What was wrong with her? Did she get hit in the head from that battle yesterday? No, goggle head had been the only one hit yesterday. It was propably nothing, all her mother and grandmother would do was fuse over her if she told th women about them.   
There was a knock on her door, it took a few more before she reponded.   
"What is it?" She said flatly.   
The old woman cringed, that girl was simply going to have to learn some manners.   
"Riku you skiped dinner last night and you haven't come out for breakfast so I made you something."   
"Just leave it outside."   
The door opened anyway.   
"Riku you need to learn to be more socialable, or one day your going to wake up all alone and wonder why."   
"Whatever, Grandma." Was her non calious reply.   
'Maybe we should hire a child phycitrist.' The old woman though, or maybe that might her lock herself up further, if only her mother would be with her more often, but that woman when she wasn't modeling she was shopping.   
"Come out and enjoy the sunshine Riku, it's good for you."   
"Don't call me that."   
The woman sighed and closed the door. The tray remained untouched.   
"You really should eat something before you keal over." Renamon suggested phasing into existence.   
"That's something I can keep track of myself thank you."   
"I'm not so sure anymore Rika."   
"Whose the Tamer and whose the Digimon here anyway?" Rika retorted.   
Renamon only made her own sigh as she reassumed her gaurding position on the roof of Rika's room. 

Guilmon looked out longingly from his lair, Takatomon hadn't come by yet with the normal load of bread. It wasn't like Takatomon to be late to see him. Maybe he should go find him. But Takatomon had said to stay until he came by. Of course, he couldn't leave unless Takatomon came by, so there was no point in staying if he didn't. With the convedence with flawed child's logic Guilmon left his layer using his stomach to remember where Takatomon's mommy and daddy's 'bakery' was. At least he would remember not to come in though the front door. (wonders never ceased) 

Takatmon moaned in his sleep, at his worse moments he felt like his insides were going to turn inside out, he wondered if that was what digivoling felt like . . . . . he'd ask Terriermon about it when he saw Lee next, or maybe Guilmon when he-   
Guilmon! He had promised to try out that new booster pack with him he got from the game shop a couple days back with him today! With super human strength, Takato got of bed and got on his out fit his head spinning.   
Taking hold of the rail he began to walk down the stairs, and right out the door. There was just one flaw with his master plan however, he had to get by his parents.   
"Takato!" Said his mom seeing him coming down. "I thought you had the flu."   
"I'm okay mom, must of just been the 12 hour bug-" The had just gotten out his last sylible as he fell to his knees and his stomach did another heave though there was nothing left to empty. Takato's vision doubled as he looked at his mother sheepishly. Colors seemed to alter slightly as he looked at her before going back to normal. Strange, he didn't feel like had had a fever.   
The woman looked at her husband.   
"Get him up to bed and make sure he stays there even if you have to tie to him to the matress!" His mother ordered leaving to pick up some basic supplies for the bakery.   
"But mom! I promised to met some friends in the park today!"   
"Not another word. Your health is a lot more important than one social event."   
'Up you go." Said his father picking him up and carrying him back up the stair into bed. 

Lee wiped his forehead and he got into his normal outfit.   
"Hey Lee you don't look so hot." Commented Terriermon.   
"I'm fine, it's just this heat."   
Terriermon looked at him in concern. " . . . Lee . . . It's only 69 F(anyone know how to make that temp sympol?) in here."   
"Your kidding. It has to be at least 74."   
Terriermon put his ear to Lee's forehead.   
"Yep, you seem a little warm to me."   
"Don't be silly, Terriermon, Momentai."   
"That's my line and my call!" 

"Look, I will not argue with an oversized plush toy. I'm busy!" "Busy," Terriermon teased, "With what?" Now that he thought of it, what was it he was in such a hurry to do? Suddenly, Lee's Digivice went off. "A new fight! So early in the morning? I haven't even had breakfast yet." Terriermon shrugged. "Just to get it over with, I.. I.. a-choo!" "Bless you." Lee pulled on a pair of shorts and a shirt. He tiptoed through the house, in hopes no one would hear him. "Its barely 50 degrees outside and you're wearing shorts?" A voice! One he distinctly recognized as his Dad. "Uh... erm... Its a... fashion statement. See you later Dad!" Lee rushed out the door before his father could question him further. "Kids!" he mumbled and went back to his newspaper.   
======================================   
"Sir, it was too strong. It's BioEmerging." Yamaki laughed and fiddled with his lighter some more. "As I knew it would. Did the Vector Net work?" "Yes. This Wild One is infected with your program." He couldn't tell which one gave him the good news. They were starting to sound so much alike it was hard to tell them apart. "Excellent. Now we just wait. How long could a Digimon possibly hold out against my engineering might?"   
======================================   
"Rika?" Renamon cautiously approached her Tamer. "Lemmie guess. I should eat something. Look, I said I don't need your help. I was born alone and I'll..." "Your Digivice is beeping." Rika blushed a little. "Fine" The Digimon Queen grabbed her infamous, 'unbeatable' deck and Digivice. As she slid her door closed, quieter than a shadow, she accidentally kicked over the bowl of soup her grandmother had left her. It was cold. "Let the older people clean it up. But... maybe I'll just have this..." She picked up the grilled cheese sandwich and wolfed it down in one bite.   
======================================   
Lee always hated taking the bus. Especially when it was to get to a battle site. The subway was so much closer to his home. And faster. But he didn't have enough money to ride. After an eternal 15 minutes, he finally arrived in the park where this new Digimon was located. Paying the bus driver, then checking his Digivice again, he pointed to a stand of trees. "There. No, there! Wait! There are two of them! They fused into one. Now its two!" Badly confused by the readings, Lee put on his shades and defiantly walked through the Digital Field. 

_"Duelamon_   
_What kind of creature is this? It can split itself in two for double the trouble. And if that isn't enough, he's at the Mega level!" _(Aaron Max orginal) 

"You know, it's a pity you can just 'shift' me there the way you do yourself." Said Rika slipping on her shoes as she ran out the back way following the compass signal on her digivice.   
"You have no idea." Said Renamon flatly. The tiger looked sweet when it was asleep alright, but that didn't make it any less deadly when it was awake. Rika considered for a moment to use the speed modify card to get herself there faster with Renamon's help, but she might need it in the fight and turned down the idea.   
Her heart pounded in her chest, her digivice was going wild, whatever this thing was, it massivly strong, this was the digimon whose data would allow Renamon to digivole, Rika just knew it! That was when another dizzy spell hit, Rika was falling, the hard asfault rushed up to greet her. Rika stopped an inch from the concerte, saving her from losing two layers of skin on her face, she looked and saw Renamon had caught her by the arm.   
Renamon held back a 'I told you so'. But still, he had to voice her concern.   
"Rika, are you sure that you okay?"   
"Of course I am! Now let's get going before those weaklings steal a kill from us like they did yesterday!" Rika KNEW what was on Renamon's mind, and she knew these spells wern't from hungery, they had started right after that digimon battle, whatever! She and Renamon had a digimon to download!   
Her heart still ramming though her chest, Rika saw two massive shapes in the foggy digital field. Two for the price of one? Weird, but I'm not complaining.   
"Let's go!" Ordered Rika.   
"Wait, I sense something."   
"Figure it out AFTER the battle come on!" Barked the 'digimon queen' as she ran inside. Digimon Queen. The title meant nothing to her. It meant as much as Riku as her mother and grandmother called her. 

Takakto heard the beeping, first he though it was his head splitting in two, then he realized it was his digivice, (his head felt like it was going to split in two anyway) sick or not, he had to help the others take apart that digimon, what if they didn't even pick it up on there digivices? The boy got out of bed, thankfully, his dad hadn't gone though on all of his mother's instructions.   
Takato took his D-Arc, and opened a window, ick it was chilly, he could get out of his room though the fire escape, he just hoped his parrents didn't come into his room while he was gone, or he was history, Takato grapped hold of the window cill, of his flu didn't kill him first.   
"Takatomon?" Now he was hullianating. He swore he heard Guilmon. He looked down and saw his digimon really was there. The colors of the world altired again on him for a split second but he ignored them.   
The Tamer threw off the fustration he had left the park without permission and had chanced himself getting seen by someone who would call the cops or the zoo and smiled at him.   
"Nice to see your here boy! Come on, we need to-" The boy who was closer than any of the other Tamers to his digimon fainted his arms on the window frame his head resting on his forearms. 

"Takato? Are you ok?" Guilmon called. No answer. "Wake up! I smell a Digimon!"   
====================================   
Lee glanced down at his Digimon. "Terriermon, this thing is a Mega. That's three levels higher than you. It'd be suicide to just charge in there. I want you to evade his attacks at all costs. Got it?" The puppy monster just nodded his head. Then, they saw him. "Are you sure he's a Mega?" Terriermon supressed a giggle.   
There, standing before them, was a strange little Digimon. It was about the size of an Rookie. Duelamon wore a comedy/tradgedy mask, and its cape was split in half. One half was white, the other black. It seemed to have a psychadelic, 70's jacket on the white side. It had an evil looking-dark suit on the other. The composition Digimon had a pair of bird-like wings on its light side, but devil wings on its black one. "I am the powerful being known as Duelamon. Finally, I have escaped that dreary Digital World. And before me is a whole new world, just waiting to be destroyed!" "Not today!" Rika's voice came from the fog. "Oh, another player in the game? We do so enjoy company. Now its time to die! Double Trouble!" Duelamon lit up, then split in half! The lighter(comedy) and the darker (tradgedy). "Symphony of Pain!" Both of them held one of their hands out, comedy aiming at Terriermon and tradgedy at Renamon. Opera music sounded as bubbles of sonic waves crashed down on the two Digimon, sending them flying across the battlefield. "Renamon!" "Terriermon!" Both Tamers ran to their Digimon, only hoping they survived that. "I can't believe one blow did this! Renamon, PLEASE wake up!" Rika shook her friend hard, until she finally saw Renamon's eyes forcing themselves open.   
Suddenly, with one mighty glow, she rose into the air. Rika gaped in amazement, "Is she...?" "Renamon Digivolve to... Kyuubimon!" With a bright burst of fire, the newly Digivolved vixen bravely responded, "Nice shot. Now its my turn! Fox Tail Inferno!" She launched a fiery wall at Duelamon, who fused back into one and dispelled it by twirling his cane. Terriermon got to his feet. "Must... help Kyuubimon." Stunned, but knowing what do do, Lee drew the Digivolution card from his deck. In no time, Galgomon was firing round after round at Duelamon. But it was no use! The monster split in two and danced circles around them! "Graaa... huhng?" both Duelamons doubled over in pain. Something was hurting them from the inside! "Its getting weaker!" Rika drew a card from her deck. 

**"DigiModiy: Deluxe Power ACTIVATE!"**

Wasting no time, Kyuubimon used Dragon Wheel. It slammed into tradgedy, thus killing it! "I... did it!" She quickly absorbed the data and turned to the other half. "Oh no... you don't! Symphony of Pain!" It hit her with another sonic bubble. This one was fueled by his pain and rage. It was so powerful, Kyuubimon DeDigivolved back to Renamon upon impact! Rika was shocked. I've never lost before! Helping her Digimon back to her hind legs, she whispered into Renamon's ear, "I hate to admit it, but we need help. I want you to shift over to Goggle-boy's house and find out what's taking him so long!" Barely able to stand, she nodded, and disappeared.   
=====================================   
"Helllllllloooooo??" Guilmon had clawed his way up the wall and was now playing with Takato's face. "Wake up." "Is that you, Guilmon?" Renamon's voice came from the shadows of Takato's room. Taken by her surprise entrance, Guilmon fell back out the window. "What... do you want?" Takato sleepily asked, "I'm sick." "Oh, I see. Well, there is a very powerful Digimon and we need Guilmon's help." He reached over for his deck and Digivice. Mustering up all the strength he could, he removed a card and swiped it through the Digivice. 

**"DigiModify: Hyper Wings ACTI**.. vate." 

He fell back asleep. Guilmon hovered up to the window. "Look! I have wings!" "Good. Fly over to the northern part of the park. I'll tuck sleepy head back in." Guilmon nodded and flew off. 'Wings. What a modification.' Renamon thought to herself. She picked up the sick little boy and gently put him on his bed. "Sleep well, young one... a-choo!" She sniffled and wiped her nose with her wrist. 'How undignified.' Covering him with the bedsheets, Renamon slipped back into the shadows from which she came.   
_______   
"Hello? Taktao? Whose in there with you?" Came the boy's father a few second's later, having hear two voice not belonging to his son's in the bed room. He opened the door and found his soon alseep in bed like he left him, the window was open . . . the came over and closed it, he must of heard a couple of people yelling outside thought it he thought as he left his son to rest.   
_______   
Takato moeaned in his sleep, it was so hot one moment and so cold the next, he saw his room, the colors were all wrong, it distorted and warpped right in front of him, he saw an endless sea of zeros and ones flow in front of him, the the eletronic clicking as they changed postion hammering into his skull, Takato wished he was dreaming something else, himself dying right now would of been a nice start . . .   
_______   
"Well Reiliy?"   
"Sir! It's work! The wild one is below 50% of it's orginal strength."   
"Of COURSE it's working I designed it."   
"Of course sir." I don't get paid enough for this. "Wait a minute. Final Answer seems to be . . . . can't really tell sir."   
"Please don't tell me we're going to have to rebuild it from scratch like we had to do with Yugoth." Whinned Trilly.   
"No it's not derezing. It's seem to be entering the other data collections in the area. . ."   
"Is it spreeding beyound the digital field!" Demanded Yamaki.   
"Checking . . ." She said with hesetation, if this thing got out. "No . . ." She said with relief. "It's staying soly in the bound of the digital field."   
"Good . . . I don't have time deal with another mistake by the higher ups."   
That might be the least of our problems if this thing out into the real world fully downloaded. Though Reily. But it can't right? Yugoth can't apper in the real world, why should final answer be different?   
___________   
"Well." Said Rika as her partner sliped out of the shadows and besides her.   
"Guilmon's on his way. Takato's not coming."   
"What good is Goggle Boy's pet without him? What's the matter does he have the flu or something?"   
"As a matter of fact yes."   
Galgomon meanwhile was running circle around the remaining Duelmon with help Lee's hyper speed modification.   
"We shall not tollerate such impudence!" Said Duelmon as sound wave after should wave atomized everything they hit.   
Galgomon's machine guns were hitting him but only causing so much damage.   
What card can I use that can take him down? Thought Lee looking at his modify hand. He's getting weaker by the minute by whatever-it-is, but his block's going to be rubble if this keeps up. That attack of his is so strong, if only, that's it!   
"Galgomon! Charge him head on!" Lee got ready to slashed the card though his D-Arc   
"Your the Tamer!"   
"Fool! Symphony of Pain!" 

**DataModify: . . .**   
**"Digimodify! . . . Wargreymon's Sheild Activate!"**

The gaint two-peice six sided sheild form on Galgomon's weapon hands, the war rabbit slammed them together just as the sound wave hit, and reverse course and hit their orginator instead sending him flying, his data desbratly trying to hold together.   
"No more games!" Snarled the mega.   
"Pyro Blaster!" The ridculasly strong rookie attack hit the digimon dead on from above Guilmon flew in low and landed, and tumbled over several times.   
"Gotta have Takatomon teach me how to land . . ." he mumbled.   
What good are you? Thought Rika with distain. I wait what might as well of been a life time for you to digivole and you actully lose for once . . .   
Renamon saw the girl's look of disapointment. 

"I've had it with the lot of you!" Duelamon leaned heavily on his cane. "Double Trouble!" Using what had to be the oddest attack in the history of Digimon, he threw his psychadelic vest into the air. And out fell the tradgedy half of him. "I'm back!" His taunt was followed by a orchestra of groans. The virus didn't seem to be slowing him down anymore! In unison, the voice of both Duelamons rang out, "Symphony of Pain!" Guilmon, smart enough to avoid it, leapt into the air. As he tumbled down, his tail shot straight out, finally bringing it down on comedy's weakened body. It was enough to smash the monster to pieces. "You can't win! So long as one brother exists, the other shall follow! Double Trouble!" His dark cape flowed majestically to his side, then out walked the other half, comedy. "How can we stop him!?"   
"Symphony of Pain!" "Lookout!" Another sonic wave streaked by Galgomon, who started shooting again. Both Duelamons came together, then mocked the Tamers, "Your attack. So rapid, yet so pitifully weak. You stand no chance against us. Hnnghuh... it's happening. Again! What is this pain!" He was hunched over in agony. "The pain... excrutiating!" Lee took note. Something inside him causes him a world of hurt. But only for a brief time. Our window of opportunity! "NOW! While he's too weak to fight! If we destroy both of them at the same time... focus all your attacks on Duelamon! Hit him with your best shot!" The Digimon took heed. "Rika?" "Just a sec...   
**DigiModify:**   
**Power ACTIVATE!"** Galgomon powered up his gunbarrels. "Bunny Pummel!" "Diamond Storm!" Guilmon took 'special' aim, hitting Duelamon in the groin with a concentrated Pyro Sphere. "Nooooooooooooooooooooooooo...!!!!" With one almighty explosion, Duelamon dissolved into tiny particles of data, which all three Digimon absorbed. "I can't believe we won. Against a Mega!" Lee was proud of their latest accomplishment.   
======================================   
"Sir, the Wild One's total power fell to 32% when the other three creatures seem to have deleted it." Yamaki, for the first time in a long time, was smiling. "Good. Now any Wild One stupid enough to try getting through the Vector Net will msot likely be erased on contact. You two can start looking for new assignments. Your work here is done once you've filed the report." He walked with a certain pride and relief in his step. Be careful your big head doesn't get caught in the doorway, you jerk. Riley threw her keys at him, missing by a longshot. 

Trilly took off her goggles and look at her partner.   
"You really think that's it Riley?"   
"Maybe, I'm not sure, these things have proven to be more than a little smart some times, and remember what happened to Yugoth that one time? We had to reprogram him from scratch."   
"You think they're going to find a way around it?"   
"Heh . . you arn't getting out much, every time Yamaki comes up with a new 'final solution' the guys and gals in the engineering lab have a betting pool on how long before it back fires on him."   
"Come on, has the boss ever skrewed up before? . . ." The two girls looked at each other in silence for a few seconds. " . . . Put me down for next Tusday before lunch time."   
"Gotcha . . . I'll bet for tomarrow morning."   
__________   
As the digital field disapated Rika looked at the Kitesume. "How did you lose Renamon?" Said Rika flatly at her digimon.   
"Rika? . . . We just won."   
"With weakling's help! I waited FOREVER for you to reach the next stage and for the first time you actully fail me! . . . I . . . you . . ."   
Lee wasn't know for being stupid but all had their moment.   
"Heaven forbid that perhapes you made a mistake by gawking there when Duelmon's other half blasted her."   
"Stay out of this! This doesn't concern you. If you wern't here distracting me, I KNOW we would of won . . . I . . . come on Renamon we can talk about this later."   
"Don't go! That was cool!"   
Rika looked down confused to see Calamon at her feet. He just smiled at her. Rika wondered why she was resisting the urg to send him into the next time zone!   
"Your that digimon I saw at Goggle Brain's school that day . . ." She said.   
"Sure am . . . wanna play?"   
"Calamon how long were you here?" Lee asked courious.   
"Um . . . like me think." This is going to take a while Lee thought. "When the first appered."   
"You were here the whole time?" Said Lee.   
"Well . . I guess . . . did I do something wrong?"   
" . . . Never mind." Lee looked at Galgomon and moaned, he just remembered the other reason why he didn't like it when Terriermon digivoled.   
"Let's head for the south end of the park, then your standing your Galgomon until you revert back to rookie form."   
"Again? . . . ."   
"Do whatever you want, I'm out of here." Said Rika stepping over Calamon.   
Renamon assumed her shadow self and vanished.   
"Uh . . . what about me?" Said Guilmon.   
Lee was about to suggest he fly back to Takato, but the wing modifcation chose that moment to wear out.   
"Oh their gone . . ."   
Lee sighed, "Come on, better sick with us until you can get back to your hiding place."   
Calamon hopped on Guilmon's head. "You still owe me that soccure game." He said happy.   
Lee wondered. How could Calamon manage to be so mindnubingly cute and cheerful so much and at the same time so . . . mind numbing peroid.   
"Come on let's go before the clean up crew arrive or you guys will get life pass' to the zoo."   
"Whata zoo?" Said Guilmon and Calamon together.   
Where was Takato when he was actully needed, Lee though.   
_____________   
Takato meanwhile had passed from being in agony and wishing to die to just being tired, though his stomach still felt like it was on a hair trigger. 

Unable to sleep now, he stared at the ceiling. He was laying as still as possible, as not to disturb the fragile balance that existed in his stomach. So boring. Takato sat up and reached for the booster pak, quickly laying back down. He still felt ok. Ripping the casing in half, he thumbed through his new cards. Battlefield, Lillymon, another Hyper Speed, Recycle... nothing good. He turned on his side, hoping that Guilmon was ok. I wonder what they're doing right now.   
======================================   
"One, two, three four!" Galgomon marched to the beat of Lee's army chant. He was jogging slowly while keeping up with his Tamer and Guilmon, who were walking. "I'm hungry." "Me too!" Calumon and Guilmon were now holding their stomachs, complaining of this and that. "Why is the hamburger Option card so rare?" Lee wished with all his remaining patience he could get his hands on that card. He could see it now...   
_"Lee? I'm hungry"_   
_"No problem Terriermon._   
**_DigiModify: Hamburger ACTIVATE!!"_** (as insane as this sounds, this card DOES exist)   
_A rather large hamburger landed in front of the Digimon._   
_"You're the best Tamer ever!"_

"Lee? Hello? Earth to Tamer, come in, Tamer!" Galgomon brought him back to reality. "We're here. Guilmon's hiding place up ahead!" Calumon looked a bit... less cheerful than usual. "We're still hungry!" "I don't have any food. Sorry."   
"Galgomon, see that manhole over there? Fire all your remaining ammunition into it. Maybe that'll waste your energy fast enough." Galgomon lifted the manhole covering and did as he was told. 

The the war rabbit looked at his Tamer exspectantly as he blasted the man hole to shrapnal. He didn't revert to rookie.   
"Great, now not only I've distoryed city properity but you still didn't de-digivole . . . Guilmon . . can you come here for a second?"   
Lee whispered in the red reptial's ear, the Viris type digimon looked confused but nodded. He walked right to Galgomon in the face and,   
"Pyro Blaster!" The attack at point blank range hit the rabbit right in the gut, sending him straight into a tree and into Rookie form.   
"Okay, that hurt, couldn't you think of another way for me revert?"   
"Sorry but we have to get home before everyone gets suspecious. Besides it's chilly out here."   
"Your cold? I guess your fever's over. . . . or . . . maybe it's mutated in a hiddious viris which is going to make you grow purple and shollowen!"   
"Leave the comedy to Calamon Terrier . . . or I'll be sure to tell Suzie how much you like pink."   
"You wouldn't dare."   
"Uh . . . me still hungery."   
"Dieting might do you some good, and Calamon . . . where'd he'd go?" 

"There's one nice thing about being part of a secret corparet syndacate, the food is good." Tilly and Riley(red hair) commented to each other as they too their ten minute break from the dome room.   
"An Apple again? Are you on a diet or something?"   
"I just don't like all that suger that put in the breakfast bars-" Riley took a bit of her apple, and tasted empty air. "Huh? Didn't I have an apple in my hand a second ago?"   
"Nice magic trick."   
"It wasn't me." 

Calamon sat in one of the park's tree chowing down on a very large red apple. 

The colors of the world seemed to shift slightly again and stayed there long enough to Takato to notice it. Again? What was happening to him? His head didn't feel hot so he could be halluanating from a fever, the world's colors went back to normal. Okay, that was the second weirdest thing to ever happen to him. Maybe he sould have his mother make an optomatris apointment later. 

Even if Rika and Renamon had been walking side by side Rika wouldn't of said anything, looking at a concert blank wall as she headed home, Rika for a moment could of sworn she could percive where Renamon was among those shadows, but that had never happened before, maybe it had something to do with her reaching champion for the first time.   
Rika didn't notice how she was subconciously walking with the souls of her feet raised like Renamon did, though no visible changed had happened to her yet. 

Rika, again sensed something. She picked up a small pebble, closed her eyes, then flung it at the wall. "Oof!" Renamon became visible from the blow to the stomach. "If I can find you, what makes you think another Digimon can't?" " I'm sorry. I got careless. It won't happen again." "Make sure it doesn't." Rika walked off, leaving Renamon to get to her feet on her own. Another Digimon? What did she mean by that?   
======================================   
After that last hallucination, Takato clsoed his eyes. "Why me?" He was too bored and tired, falling into a deep sleep. 

"Rika what did you just say?" Asked Renamon phasing next to her glade the street was deserted.   
"I said that I could find you what makes you think a digimon couldn't?"   
"No Rika, you said what made me think another digimon couldn't?"   
"You must of mis heard me." Said Rika off handly.   
"We both know I don't make those kind of mistakes."   
"Whatever . . . . . look, maybe your right . . . I'll try not to over do it until the next digimon shows."   
"Please try to."   
_________________   
________________   
This night the 'digimon queen's' family had demanded she sit at the table and for once she actully had complied. After dinner, it was time for Rika's normal rititual as she placed the cards by type and power. It was like she was looking at the grand toltaly of her short existence. From the shadows, Renamon noted that Rika was sitting in a crouch using the balls of her feet for balence.   
After orginizing her cards and putting on her night gown, Rika went to sleep. The kitesume digimon noted something else slight pacular, Rika wasn't lying on her back like she normally did, instead she was curled up on her side. The fox rubbed her nose, well, whatever that strange cold had been seemed to of worn off at least for the moment. Getting sick was the last thing she needed to happen.   
______________________   
"Lee, I need to ask you something."   
"What?"   
"Do you think Suzie, WAITS for me to come every day, or does she just sense it when I come home?"   
"Knowing her? Maybe a little bit of both." 

"Teweirman!" Suzie was, as always, waiting next to the door. She charged her brother and swiped the plush toy from his arms. "And how are you today, Mr. Funnypants? Lets go have a tea party." As he walked to his room, Lee could faintly hear Terriermon whisper to him, "She's evil!" He laughed a bit.   
That night, as he was brushing his teeth, Lee noticed something odd. He looked... different. But how? He couldn't quite put his finger on it, but he knew something was wrong.   
_------------------------------------------------_   
_Why hadn't I thought of it sooner? A program that deletes Wild Ones almost immediately. I'm genius. Pure, 100%, distilled genius. Yamaki laid contently on his bed. Nothing could spoil my victory._

Renamon looked Rika over, nothing looked wrong, what of her she could see, but Renamon had no intention of violating her like that. She was not her mother, and weather or not that woman played the role or not she was still her mother and not Renamon. The kitesume sighed. The fox felt her cheek, she felt alright. Oh what was she worried about?! So she had slipped somewho and Rika had seen her. She wasn't perfect it was bound to happen once in a life time, so the girl was acting slightly different, digimon and tamers became more in tune with each other as time progressed, they rubbed off on each other, Rika was propaply just picking things up from, like Renamon had picked up her colder fighting style and methodicalness in combat. At any rate, the next day would come one way or another.   
__________   
"Mercy . . ." Terriermon whispered, Suzie ignored him giving him another cup of AWFUL tea, Terriermon was as well as Lee ignorant of the fact that Suzie knew perfectly well that Terriermon was NOT a stuffed toy, but that didn't stop her from playing her game with him, thankfully the girl had burned herself out after the long day and feel alseep before she put a diapere on him.   
Her father came in a few minutes later and place the girl in bed ignoring Terriermon, which was just fine with the 'plush toy'. He snuck out and back into Lee's room without being seen.   
__________   
Lee staired at himself in the mirror. . . . Ugh! He felt himself, he didn't feel hot. He looked at his hands, same ones he was born with. He thought about Terriermon's BAD joke about turning purple and bloated. Whatever had caught his attnetion was so small he couldn't pick it up.   
His hair was scuffier but since he hadn't had a hair cut in so long that was to be expsected. Sighing in fustration he finnished in the bath room and went to bed, Terriermon hopped into position almost instantly.   
"Do you always have to use my head when I'm your sleeping?"   
"Your not using it."   
"Very funny ha ha, can't you ever sleep somewhere else? "   
"Momentai Lee, Momentai, it's not like I'm a bother."   
"Fine . . . but if I wait up before you, expsect a vey cold shower."   
"Your no fun."   
"And you sound like Calamon."   
"At least the little guy knows how to have fun."   
"You got me there."   
There was a voice behind his door. "Lee? Whose in there with you?"   
"No one dad, just talking to myself that's all."   
"Well try to get some sleep."   
"Gotcha." Were Lee's last words before drifting to sleep.   
_________________ 

"I feel like a million bucks!" Takato leapt out of bed. Bad move. His legs were still a bit wobbly and he fell flat on his face. "Ow!" He managed to crawl back up. He felt well-rested and charged. He glanced over to his alarm-radio. 3:46 AM. Today's sunday. I better get working on Ms. Usagi's essay. He pulled the chair from his desk, swinging it all the way back to his bed. "I guess I don't know my own strenght sometimes." He turned on his desk lamp and started scribbling away.   
4:15AM. He threw his pencil to the side. He had written a ten-page report for a seven-page essay! He wasn't tired at all. He picked up his Dreamcast's controller and began playing a video game. "Huh?" He dropped the controller. Picking it up, he fumbled with the buttons. What's wrong with my fingers? Takato was having trouble moving his pointer and middle finger seperately. Same with his ring and pinky fingers. "Maybe they're stiff from not doing anything in all day." He achieved a high score and turned it off. "Now what?" Still full of enery, he leapt down the stairs and to the kitchen, where he started... doing the dishes!? 

Takato washed the dishes in a blur. Boy were his parents going to be surprised in the morning. At least his stomach didn't feel like it was going to start doing flip flops again. His finger felt better. Making a token gesture to fill his empty stomach he took a couple of rolls from the friged and stuffed them in his mouth. Nothing to do now but wait till the morning. 

The boy went up the stairs taking them too steps at a time. Still got it after all. He thought. Why couldn't he of gotten this cold on a school day? Oh well, can't have everything. going back to his room to pre-read his essay (for once!) He blinked when he saw how he had signed his name.   
Takatomon? He erased it and wrote in Takato. He had been hanging around Guilmon too long! that settled it, he was going to teach his partner how to say his name right in the morning he had to teach him the ABC's and spell it out for him! Now what? He paced in circles. "Hey, why wait for morning? I don't have anything else to do." 

"Wow, its actually warm outside." He slid the door open, letting the cool morning air flow across him. "My skin is kinda rough. I probably need some lotion." He made was kinda hungry, too. Closing the door, he ran to the kitchen and made himself a peanut butter sandwich without even a second thought. He didn't really eat it so much as he absorbed it. God bless peanut butter. He dashed outside and mounted his bike, then furiously pedaled off. He was going fast enough to pass a few of the cars on the highway! 

When Takato got to the park, he nearly had a crashed that would of sent his brains scattaring over the sidewalk, if his mother had been there, she would of been into an endless lecture on how irrresponcable it was for Takato to use his bike without a helmet. Takato moaned as he remembered he had forgotten to bring his bike lock, ugh, Takato was inner city kid, and no delusion of the fate of his bike if he left it. He did the only thing he could think of and hide it in some bushes. He thought for a moment to dig and burry it, but he realized that would take a rediculasly long amount of time and settled for hiding it instead. The boy looked at his skin, it still felt rouge, but he didn't see any rash, must of just been a prolonged odd senstation or something.   
Man, how could it be so hot in November? He thought as he tuged as his shirt and resisted the urge to take it off. He reached his partner's hide out in a couple of heart beats.   
"Taktomon." The tamer uttery ignored the incorrect saying of his name.   
"Nice to see your up boy, I'm sorry I was under the weather yesterday, but I still want to try out these cards."   
"Did you bring bread? Me kinda hungery."   
"Sorry I forgot."   
Guilmon moaned sadly. " . . . Takatomon . . . you smell a little funny."   
"Well, I've been in bed all day. I guess I might smell a little bit..."   
"It's not that, Takatomon. You smell different than before."   
Takato sighed. "Alright, let's start with my name. I told you before, my name is Takato. I don't have the word -mon it."   
"Why not?" Guilmon innocently asked.   
"Because... um. Actually, that's a good question. Don't all Digimon have -mon in their name? Oh, nevermind. Let's try...   
**DigiModify:**   
**Training Ring ACTIVATE!"**   
A golden ring with glyphs on it appeared on Guilmon's neck. It was heavy! His head was starting to droop. "How is this supposed to be training?" He cried out. His Tamer showed him how it was supposed to focus his energy. "My energy? Can you teach me how to land, first?"   
"Land?"   
Guilmon reached over and searched through the deck. "This one." The Hyper Wings. "Oh, I see. Alright, um... where to start?" 

"I don't believe it." Said Takato's mother upon seeing the dishes. Done all done. Maybe the boy was finnaly learning . . . where was he anyway? Ugh. He was simply going to have to tell them of his comings and goings from now on. 

"Steady . . ugh . . . well, at least this time you didn't land on your head this time." 

Guilmon had landed on his back, nearly crushing his wings. "It's ok, boy. You'll get it. Eventually." Takato scratched his hand. Why is my skin so dry? He noticed parts of it were also turning a light shade of red. "Weird."   
_------------------------------_   
_There! No, there! I'll blow 'em all away! Where is he now? I... its me! What am I doing there if I'm right here? What on Earth? He's holding the Digivice up to me. And worse... its getting a reading! What's that pain. That dumb dog/bunny thing just blasted me again! I swear I'll destroy him! Wait, he Digivolved. His gunfire! It hurts! Arrghh!!! I'm being absorbed. It feel like air. Why do I feel like I'm losing myself?_   
_------------------------------_   
Lee awoke in a sweat. What was that? A dream? He saw Terriermon resting on his pillow. "Aarrgh! Stay away!" Then he remembered; It was only a dream. He looked at his clock. "What time is it?" 

"Seven in the morning . . . terrific." Lee said blandly. The Chinese/Japenses boy laid on his side try to get back to sleep, the nightmare turning over in his head, like most dreams it made perfect sense while you were asleep but once you were awake logic stepped in and made it as incoprehencable as a tax forum. All Lee knew was that his heart was punching in his chest trying to get out, and sweet soaked his body, it had been a nasty one, that much was oblivious.   
After a few minutes and realizing he wasn't going back to sleep the Tamer got up. Might as well start the new day. He had completed his essay asigment on Friday like any straight arrow student would so he had the whole day to look forward to. He made it a point to check on Takato, from what Renamon had said the third 'goggle boy' as Rika would of put it had been completly out of it. Lee hoped he didn't try something stupid, then again this was Takato they were talking about, he was most likly living up being sick like any kid would. Lee smirked at the mental image.   
For once he didn't have to wait in line to use the shower like every oher morning, he considered for a moment to make good on his threat with Terriermon but didn't want to deal with him fuming all day. Lee stripped and let the cold water wake him up for the day's activities.   
Like any oriental, body hair was a bit of a forgein concept to Lee Wrong, so he was confused with he felt the slight peach fuzz starting on his back. But his brain didn't resister it as anything alarming, just surprising.   
___________   
The alarm at eight went off with a beeping noise, Rika moaned as she rolled out of bed, crouching and putting one hand to the floor as she hit the rudge. Sunday. That meant only one missriable to Rika and that was that family was going to have her help maintain the house and garden like always.   
___________   
At least now he knew it was rash. Takato thought. The sun was up before the pair knew it, and it got steadily warmer. Guilmon meanwhile had had just about every crash in the averiary manual, and a few that wern't. He had made two actual landings, the first ended with the digimon landing chest first into a tree, the second head first into one of the hide out's walls. (the former was more painful)   
Takato didn't have a watch, but he did know it starting to get late (er, early) from the way the sun was. He had better check in at home before his family called the police or something.   
"Guilmon I better head home, don't worry I'll remember to bring some bread back later today."   
"Okay Takatomon." Said the viris digimon happy at the prospect of food.   
"Guilmon I said. . ." Hadn't he said that all digimon had 'mon' at the end of their names? But he wasn't a digimon. He must of been a lot more tired this morning than he realized. "Never mind." The boy said taking off. 

When he got home, he found his mother waiting for him at the front door.   
"Takato! Where have been all morning? I was worried about you, espically when you have the flu! You could of caught amonia! And besides, you could of at least left a note."   
"Uh sorry I didn't think of that."   
"Exactly, you didn't think!"   
"Sorry but . . . look on the bright side, the dishes are done."   
"That's your saving grace, nice to see your macuring somewhat. Now get back inside."   
"Don't worry mom I'm over the flu."   
"You said something similar just before you dry heaved on the floor yesterday now come on in."   
"Yes mother."   
"At least you actully be able to get your homework done today."   
"Actully I already have."   
"Who are you and what have you done with my son?"   
"Mom! It's me! Takato!"   
"I believe you, I threw out all the drawings on your bed while you were gone."   
"WHAT!"   
"Now I really believe you now come in." She said as she pulled her offspring inside. 

The very first thing Takato did was dash upstairs, to his room. Upon seeing that his drawings were all ok, he grabbed a few of them and stuffed them in his backpack for safekeeping. Suddenly, he could hear comething creaking. The stairs. Someone was coming! He turned towards the stairs and stared deeply, waiting for someone to intrude in. "I was only kidding. Your drawings are ok." his mother walked in. She seemed a bit scared. "Why are you growling at me? Are you trying to get a part as the dog in your school play?" He hadn't noticed it until now, but he was growling. And standing hunched over, in a defensive position. It just came naturally. "Oh, uh... its just that my drawings are almost sacred to me."   
"I see. Hey, have you eaten breakfast? You threw up everything when you were sick. I bet you're starving."   
"Can I have peanut butter?"   
"Sure. Why not?"   
He cheered and raced down the stair, knocking his mother to the banister as he was went. 

"Takato!"   
" . . . Yes mom?"   
"Slow down! You nearly made me fall over."   
" . . . Yes mom."   
"Yes mom what?"   
"Yes mom I won't run wild though the house."   
"Good . . . now let's see about that peanut butter samwhich."   
__________   
"I see your doing things without the normal complaints about the waste of your time." Renamon observed shifting out of shadow form in the garden as Rika raked the leaves for the green bin.   
"I'm still thinking about yesterday . . ."   
"Rika I'm sorry, I slipped, it won't happen again."   
"If I hadn't already dumbed so much effort into you I'd go looking for a new partner."   
That hurt. There were digimon lined up for the honor of being the Digimon Queen's allie.   
"Don't let that stop you if that's how you really feel about me." Renamon whispered.   
"It's your failure, not you I'm disapointed in."   
Renamon perked up at this, again, looking at Rika to see if she saw anything out of the orginary, she hadn't exspected Rika to hear her, she was slipping.   
"Riku!" Shouted her mother, Sunday, one of the few days she was actully home. "When your done be sure to water the plants."   
"Yes mother." Rika said coldly. Why couldn't a digimon pop up? But she would still need to do her jobs when she got back. She considered telling Renamon to do them but rejected it before the idea was completly formed. Renamon was a warrior, not a maid. Besides, a fox going around do her chores was bound to raise a few flages in her families' heads.   
__________   
"I see your making up for lost time." She observed as the boy stuffed his face. He had already make up for yesterday's breakfast and working on lucnh. "Be careful or you'll give yourself a stomach ach."   
"Don't worry mom, I can handle it."   
Sigh. "I just don't want you to over stuff yourself and sending your degestive track into reverse again. I just finnished washing the sink."   
Takato decided to change the subject.   
"By the way mom? I got this rash and it's starting to itch."   
"Probaply something you got while outside let me see . . . well it's not posin oak or ivy, let me just put some lotion on it and hope for the best."   
the lotion went on a few minutes later and Takato had to admit it did feel better. And hadn't had any of those changes in color since his fever broke. But still, why had he growled at his mom like that? It was like he had lost control. Like those times Guilmon smelled digimon. Takato, like any person who had ever pick up a pen and wrote more than their name on an assignment was always flirting in his mind, and had a flash of inspiration. Growl? Growlmon? Hey! They would be a cool name for Guilmon's champion form! 

_I'll start drawing that right away! _Takato thought to himself. But first, more peanut butter. Man, when did I become such a PB freak? He couldn't make himself care that this much peant butter might be a bad thing.   
After quite a heavy breakfast, he sat at his desk and started drawing up a Growlmon. For some reason, it was geting to be a hassle to hold the pencil. His fingers just wouldn't cooperate like his brain told them to. Finally, he just decided to put it up as a request on a messageboard or something. Maybe later.   
---------------------   
Lee was havig trouble thinking today. Every time he tried to concentrate, his mind would wander. "What is wrong with me today!?" He stared at his monitor. He used to like this game. Terreirmon, who had narrowly escaped the wrath of Suzie, crept back into his room. "You mean you're not always like this, Lee?"   
"What are you, my Tamer?" Lee shot back angrily.   
"Humans don't hae Tamers. Well, if you ask me, they should. There has to be some force out there that can control your psycho sister."   
Lee chuckled a bit. "BY the way, Lee," Terriermon add, gliding over to his bed, "Have your ears always been that long?" 

Lee opened his eyes in surprise when he felt his ears. 

"AAAHHH!!!" he sceamed "What's happening to my ears?! This just isn't natural..." 

"Momentai." Terriermon told him. 

"How can I take it easy when my ears are growing bigger and longer?! This is just... freaky. Hmm, maybe if I take it easy, it'll go away." 

"I dunno, Lee." 

Lee when straight for his closet and pulled out a orange and green sweet shirt. Terriermon was no expert, but he knew that Lee had no taste in cloths. Tamer 04 pulled the hood up so his ear wouldn't show, he couldn't risk his family coming in and seeing him like this. 

_________   
Takato sat down his bed, began working on his fingers, it was like his finger bones were fushing together or something. With some effort, he managed to bend the fingers of one hand with the other, it game a dull pain as he did so but at least they started working again, they felt a little numb but at least he could move them more.   
With concentration born of a life time around digimon, Takato picked up the pencle and started to draw again, the itching on his arms had gone down with the loating his mom gave him, but it ate at the edge of his mind, he ignored it, focusing his eyes soly on the task at hand. Sort of when Gulimon got ready for a fight Takato mushed. Then again, Lee and Rika had found their digimon, Takato had made Guilmon, so in a way it like on the TV show, the part where the kid's digimon were made from their personal data. Rika would of laughed at the comparason.   
_______________ 

Rika after the normal grueling tasks of every Sunday normally just slept it off until dinner. This time however she managed to have the power left over to up. The digimon queen climb the tree near the edge of the walled in gardan siting in a perch position as still as a statue. Her mind going over the battle again and again. At those dizzy spell had stoppeed at last.   
Had she really been at fault when Kyobimon was hit? Had she made a mistake? What was wrong with her! She was Rika Anoko(sp), she was the best. She was the perfect Tamer, she had no equels! But Lee had thought to use Duelmon's attack against him, while she had stood there in shock as duelmon copied himself. If she had made a mistake then it would be her first and last one! She was not going to lose her secret status as the world's greatest tamer to a kid with fan made digimon and one weakling who didn't want his digimon to obsorb his slayen enemies data. What was the point of victory if you didn't claim the spoils?! The late november weather nipped at her bare skin as she looked at the suburbs in hopes of noticing a digital field, no such luck.   
Pity after all her trading and searching she still hadn't gotten her hands on a digi-port card. It was just a theory, but maybe she could use it to go to the digital world, then she and Renamon wouldn't need to wait for them to cross over, she could just go hunting for them at her leasure, and she could actully go after strong ones with no distractions, instead of having to go after every precious bit of data weather it be from an ultimate or a rookie.   
She just sat there for hours into she got crambs from sitting in that positon.   
"Riku! Dinner."   
Ugh. No point in hiding this time. Rika got ready to get down then realized how high she was up. Rika considered just jumping down herself then reality came back to her.   
"Renamon." Rika said calmly and the kitesume appered behind her. " . . . . . Help me down." okay she might of been the one at fault with Duelmon, maybe, but her ego wasn't about to let her admit that.   
"Heh, of course." Said Renamon seeing the looking of aprehention in the girl's eyes. The fox doing her best not to cratle her Tamer as she helped her down.   
Rika was silent though the entire meal, and only made token responces to her family's attempts at converstation, it was actully a social improvment, normally she made no attempts. Sunday, her turn at dishes, though her family was timid about her cold attude, she wern't so about her share of the house work. This wasn't America after all.   
Rika felt a dull pain in her lower spin, she had diffently stayed in that tree too long.   
___________________   
Calamon spoke as if he had come down with a flu just as nasty as Takato's from his perch in the park. "Something feels funny . . . "   
The voice was obnoixious and rude. Just like it's user. "Ah . .. little baby Cala feeling sick? Want me to put you out of your missery?"   
Calamon didn't act surprised. "Impmon . . . I think I finnaly understand why you don't have any friends."   
The short purple bad version of NiGHTS from sega's classic video game spat. "Baw! Who needs friends? I can take care of myself." 

"And you're not lonely? Don't you play with anyone?"   
"Play...?" Impmon trailed off, "NO! I do not play! I train and become even more perfect! 'Course, its not like ya'd notice! Ugh, you're crampin' my style. I better leave. Hangin' around with the likes of you makes me sick to the stomach! Bada-boom!" Impmon leapt onto a telephone line and ran off. "What a weird guy? How can someone not like to play?"   
-------------------------------------   
Lee said bye to his dad and headed out the door. "Terriermon, look at me! I look like an big elf!" "That's good. Christmas is only a few months away." Lee resisted the urge to use a Rock Armor modify and drop his Digimon from a high place. "I gotta find the others. Maybe its happening to them too." As he ran down the street, he passed a store window. "5:15. How did it get so late?" he thought aloud.   
------------------------------------   
"Sir, your program seems to be in our computer systems!" Tilley reported. What? How? I thought it was only inside the Digimon. It must have spilled over somewhere. Yamaki's mind tried to figure out how that might have happened. "Put a file block on any programs it's infected. I doubt it can do any harm to the computers, but better safe than sorry. You can't toy around with a life's work." Riley, whose chair was facing away from the boss, took off her visor and whispered to her friend, "See? Things are already going wrong. And its closer to my guess! Don't worry, Tilley. I'll share." "It's not over until Janice from personnel sings." She shot back.   
--------------------------------------   
"I can't believe it! Takato! Nice to see you're feeling better!" Lee shouted over to the his friend. "Thanks. I was heading over to the park to train Guilmon some more. Um, dude? What's with the hood?"   
"You've got to see it for yourself." Replied Lee. 

"You girls have something you want to say to my face?" Said Yamaki.   
"No Sir!" The girls said as one.   
"Good, now get started on those file locks, afterwards replace any effected data from the back ups in the archives. I meant it when I said no mistakes this time."   
"This will be a first . . . " Tilley whispered softly to Riley who couldn't resist smiling.   
Not softly enough. "What was that?" Yamaki hissed.   
"Nothing Sir!"   
"Good." Tamaki began fiddling with his lighter like he did whenever he got nervious, it also ussual an omen something losy was about to happen. Riley considered calling the repair crews ahead of time so they would be back on track sooner, but decided to give Tilley a fair chance in case her guess was right.   
"Is Yugoth affected?"   
"No Sir, he, it, is still fully moblie and stable." She wondered if he wanted to send 'Rover' hunting.   
"Good. If any wild ones get into any orbiting systems, have Yugoth distory it immedatly. We have enough trouble right now as it is."   
"Of course sir." As if I need you to me that . . . 

"Promise you won't laugh?" Lee timidly replied.   
"I promise."   
Lee pulled back his hood. Takato was struggling to keep from laughing. "You... look like... an elf!" He couldn't contain himself anymore and burst out laughing. "Oh shut up. Didn't you say you weren't going to laugh."   
Lee said nothing all the way to the park, but Takato was gasping for breath. Not only from laughing so hard, but also because he had just been punched in the stomach. Guilmon came out. "Back already, Takatomon?" The Digimon ran up to him. "Did you bring me any bread?"   
"You bet!"   
"Yummy!" He gobbled down a loaf of bread, then sniffed the air, "Um, Lee? I think you smell different too."   
He pulled back his hood again, "I took a shower this morning. That's something your Tamer never does."   
Takato had an anime sweatdrop, "I shower every weekend!"   
Guilmon looked directly at Terriermon, resting on Lee's shoulder, then at his Tamer. He couldn't resist. Finally, the dinosaur started musically, "Do your ears hang low, do they wobble to and fro? Can you tie them in a knot? Can you tie 'em in a bow?" Everyone laughed but Lee.   
"It stopped being funny before it started! This is gonna be a long evening." Lee fumed. 

Lee looked at his fellow Tamer. "I came looking for you because I was afraid something was happening to you too. Not so I could get laughed at . . . ." Lee looked at Takato's partner. "Guilmon, what did you mean I smell different too?"   
"Takatomon doesn't smell the same as before."   
"What does he smell like?"   
Guilmon thought hard. "He still smells familiar . . . but I don't know where I've smell it before."   
Lee opened his mouth before he had a chance to think about it. "Propaply back when you were going though something you shouldn't of."   
"Hey!"   
Lee realized what he had just said. This was serious. "Sorry Takato." Since when did he wise crack? He wondered if it had to do with what was happening to him. Takato seemed to acting normal. Of course Lee didn't think about how much Guilmon and Takato were semilar to begin with. "Takato, has anything happened to you? I mean, strange like what's happening to me?"   
"Well, my finger have been getting stiff on and off today, I think it's just left overs from my cold. And I have this nasty rash that just won't go away. But I don't think that counts for what's happening to you!"   
" . . . I can't hide this from my family forever, what am I going to do?"   
"Try and hide it for 354 days out of the year?" Takato laughed.   
"Takato! . . ." Lee realized something. "Takatomon."   
"Yes?"   
"Since when do you respond to that name from anyone but Guilmon?"   
"Huh? Well, I was well, what difference does a 'mon' make on a name anyway?"   
"I think it makes a world of difference. Look at your hand."   
"It was the same one I was born with."   
"Then why are your fingers curled like you were pretending they wer claws?"   
"Huh? Well, it funny you meantion all of this, now that I actully think about it I was thinking that Guilmon might of been rubbing off on me, but . . . it weird, it's like trying to remember a dream, I had woken up late er, early at night at full strength, and I did my essay for class, and I wrote in 'Takatomon' I caught and rewrote it while pre-reading it."   
Lee had to struggle not to crack wise at some of the things Takato said. 

He finally managed to choke out, "Since when do you proofread?" Takato shook his head. "This assignment is critical. Even I know when something has to be done." Lee just accepted that as an answer, but Terriermon blurted, "Like the science project that you got done one the bus ride to school critical?" Takato cringed. "You know, Lee, I think Digimon really do rub off on their Tamers. Terriermon used to be the only one to make lame jokes."   
"Lame! Why I oughta..."   
"Cool it, or I'll summon the demon Suzie."   
"Yeah, summon sounds to be about the right word."   
Takato scratched the back of his hand, and his his arm. The rash seemed to be rapidly spreading up his arms. "I wonder if anything is happening to Rika, too."   
"Who knows. And its not like she would just tell us."   
----------------------------------------   
Tilley had just about locked the last infected file when something came up on her visor. "The virus just appeared somewhere. I can't lock onto it. Its not anywhere in the systems." Riley lifted her visor, then swiftly replied, "You've been drinking too much coffee. If its not in the systems, then where could it be?"   
"You won't believe this, but its... its in this room."   
"You've been going for 32 hours without sleep. I guess its to be expected from someone who's new to the project."   
"Shut up." Tilley replaced her visor. But something was poking her. What was that? She sat up a bit, but there seemed to be nothing on her chair. Maybe I'm not only seeing things, I'm imagining feeling things. I really DO need some sleep. "Sir," she asked, trying to sound exhausted, "I need to go home and catch some sleep."   
"Then go. Lock the last of the files and take the rest of the night off." Yamaki felt a bit drowsy too.   
"Oh my God! Tilley, get a camera!" Riley piped up, "We need to take a picture of this! Yamaki... being merciful! Kodac moment!"   
Both Tilley and Yamaki glared at her. The twin chairs rotated down and the blonde one staggered off. 

"We have to try!" Said Takato forgetting the ich on his arms. "If something happens to her and we just do nothing then we're responcable."   
"The only one responcable for Rika is Rika. You saw the battle yester- oh yea you didn't, well Guilmon did and so did I and I have to tell you. Renamon finnaly digivoled to champion."   
"WHAT?!"   
"Hey don't yell, these ears do more than make me look stupid, anyway, I don't if she told you or not but we went up against a mega yesterday and Renamon got blasted back to rookie. All together we managed to beat our enemy, but she acted like she had lost was taking out on Renamon. You know her, she HATES being helpped by anyone even if it's for her own good."   
"I understand Lee but . . . I still gotta try . . ."   
"Fine, I'll go with you in case Rika decides to carry out her promise to kill Guilmon."   
"Who said I was bringing Guilmon?"   
"You bring him anywhere you can, even if it's right into danger."   
" . . . . True." Admited Takato sadly. 

Some time later, the two boys were at Rika's place, Taktao keeping an eye open for Renamon, though with an Kitesume, he knew that didn't do much good. The tamers pulled on the rope that rung the bell, a few seconds later, an old woman Takato guessed had to be Rika's grandmother, answered the door. The tamer had the smarts to have their digimon hide at the last second.   
"And what can I do for you two boys?"   
"I, uh, we, we're here to speak to Rika, I came down with the 24 bug yesterday and I just wanted to make sure she hadn't caught it too."   
"Well Riku hasn't been sick all week end so I don't think she caught anyway. You didn't tell me your names." Riku? Takato decided not to ask, they had more important things to talk about.   
"I'm Takatomo- Takato and he's Lee Wong. Can we please talk to Rika . . . just because."   
"I'll tell her you're here. Please come in."   
The place was old style, friendly, homey, pretty much the exact opposite of what they thought Rika's raising place would be like.   
Rika came in non-curtiously and looked at them as if they didn't matter. What did the weaklings want? She thoughts. And voiced as much.   
"We're here because well . . . show her Lee."   
"Promise not to laugh first." Lee said futilully.   
"Whatever just show me."   
"Okay." Lee took off his hood. Rika looked in shock, and fell down laughing pointing at him.   
"Any longer and those ears make you look just like that smart mouthed digimon of yours!"   
Lee hadn't made the connection until then. The come back died in his throat. He hadn't really thought about it until now. But yes, the ears were long, just like Terriermon's, okay, not just like, but getting there. Takato. He was moving his hands as if they were claws! He noticed how Rika was moving. She sqauted when she sat down, and moved with liquide grace when she walked. It all came together in one hiddious horrible picture.   
"Guys . . . we have a VERY serious problem."   
"You seem to be the only one with problem that seem serious." Said Takato.   
"Takato . . . I don't think you'll have to worry about that '-mon' Guilmon keeps putting on the end of your name soon."   
"Huh?"   
"Look at my ears! Look at how your moving your hands. Rika! Having you been noticing how you've been moving now? Of course you haven't! Why should you!"   
"Get to the point already." Rika snapped.   
"We're turning into twins of our digimon!" 

. . . . . . 

Silence. 

. . . . . 

Crickets bide their farewells to the now near invisable sun on the horizen. 

. . . . . 

Takato suddendy felt like he was going to start throwing up again . . .   
Rika thought about the pain in her lower spin that had been bothering her all evening. A chill ran down her spin, a little too far down that it should of been able to.   
"Your crazy! It can't be true! . . . A digimon can't be a Tamer! My life would be ruined!" Ranted Rika.   
"Nice to see you have your priorities straight . . ." Mumbled Lee. It was oblivious not just a phyical change, their personalities were changing too, the change was working from the inside out.   
"Well . . . heh . . . heh . . . maybe . . . maybe it'll be cool! But . . . maybe we should do something just to safe . . ."   
"And what would you suggest Goggle Boy go to a doctor? 'Hello, I would like to make an appointment at Tokeyo hospital concerning strange phyical changes and senstations.' They'd think we were all either going though puberdy or a nervous break down and hullicanating."   
"Well . . . uh . . look on the bright side, no more home work."   
"You never done it to begin with." Retorted Rika angerly.   
"What do you know about me! We don't even go to the same school!"   
"I know your a goof little boy~!"   
"We're the same age!"   
"How would you know!"   
"Lee got it off your profile on the web!"   
"Why you little-!"   
"Stop it!" Said Lee. "We have more important things to think about!"   
"Like what? . . ." Said Rika. "Unless you have an anti-transformation card I don't know about we're stuck."   
"We're not stuck. We're moving. And I don't any of us like the idea of where we're going." Spoke the chinsese/Japenses boy in a distant tone.   
Takato meanwhile was split, just yesterday he had been thinking about how great it would be to be like Guilmon, now he was scared stiff of the idea. Maybe that was it! Maybe because had wished it and someone had been listening.   
"I wish not to be like Guilmon, I wish not to be like Guilmon, I wish not to be like Guilmon, I wish not to be like Guilmon."   
'What are you doing now Goggle Brain?"   
"Well, I wished a a couple days back to be like Guilmon, so maybe another wish might reverse it!"   
The other Tamers spoke as one. "Come off it!"   
Takato took a step back. 

End of Page One of . . . we arn't finnished yet by a long shot.   


Flames, comments, good or bad reviews, suggestions, reactions, occasional constructive criticism all welcome. Spelling corrections also welcome as long as you tell what you think of the story itself too.   
    



	2. Transition

This story was written and is still being written on www.sonicfoundation.org 's message board along with Aaron Max and JW aka Katana aka Zrex . 

Page Two of At least Five 

"Ok. I was just thinking..."   
"Don't think," Rika said, as cruel as posssible, "You can't handle it yet."   
Now he was mad! Takato, who almost never got this kind of angry, leapt at Rika, knocking her to the floot with his heels. Standing above her, she gazed into his eyes. They were distant and cold. And Rika felt something she never had before. Fear. "Takato! Stop!" Lee tried to stop him, but got thrown at the wall. "Leave her alone!" Renamon came from the shadows and managed to restrain him. Growling and thrashing around, Takato suddenly came out of it. Almost like he had been in a trance. "I... don't know... Sorry, I didn't.. I have go." Takato broke out of Renamon's hold and ran off. "He's never done that before. I wonder how far he's gone?" Lee couldn't help but wonder. Rika got back to her feet. "When he knocked me down... isn't that like how velociraptors attack their prey? I saw it on tv once." She heard herself speaking._ I'm acting paranoid_. "We aren't turning into Digimon! Takato is just dumb and you have a freak growth spurt!"   
"What about the way you walk now?"   
"Humph. You've wasted enough of my time with your lame theories. Get lost."   
"But Rika..."   
"I don't have anything to say to you." Rika interupted. She pointed at one of the doors. "Get out of my house or I'll show you out."   
Lee just stood there looking into her eyes for a few seconds. They wern't blue yet, or would that change at all? In all those europian novels about were wolves the victem kept their human eyes. But this wasn't lycanthrapy. Then again, only time would tell. Lee pulled his hood up.   
He said simply. "Rika, one morning your going to wake up and look around and realize your all alone in the world, and you'll wonder why." He walked out, Terriermon meting him outside.   
"So what if I was all alone." Rika said to herself. "No one to get in my way."   
"Is that how you feel about me?" Said Renamon looking at her partner. Rika didn't know how to react. Finnaly she said.   
"We're partners, it's our job to stay together."   
"Is that it?"   
" . . . . I need to be alone." Renamon vanished.   
"Really alone!"   
Renamon in shadow form left the room. Renamon seriously thought the Lee boy might be right. But, as Rika had pointed out, there wasn't exactly much they could do. 

"Takatomon? You okay?" Said the reptial as he ran outside the garden walls and stop only at hearing his name.   
"No I'm not . . . Guilmon, goodnight! I'm sure you can get home on your own! I need to get back before my parents worry about me!" He ran off in confusion and fear without waiting for an answer. The viris type digimon just looked on with distrate before following his Tamer's orders. It was getting harder to recognize his smell. 

"Well what went on there?" Said the vaccine type digimon.   
" . . . . Suzie might be soon torchering stereo."   
"Come again?"   
"I'm becoming like you!" 

The data type digimon in phyical form looked into one of the garden's pools, looking at the reflection that staired back at her. Could Rika really be becoming like her?   
_This is what you wanted isn't it? She could be your daughter in more than just spirit. Said her reflection at her._   
"No!" Said the digimon punching a fist in the water distorting her image. "I've never wished this on Rika! Never! I would never do anything that would take her away from her real family!" 

The Tamer pratically ran into the apartment barely remembering to take off his shoes as was the custom in Japan. He just crashed on the coutch doing his best not to shake. His mother saw him first.   
"Takato, I really wish you'd stop doing this, you just got over the flu and someone at your age just shouldn't be out this . . . honey? Why are you crying? Are you hurt?" She gently put a hand on his shoulder with concern in her eyes. 

"Mom," he wiped his eyes and tried to speak, "I don't know how to say this but..."   
"But what, honey?"   
"If ever something happened to me..."   
His mother didn't know what to say. "What do you mean? Takato, if something is wrong, I want to be the first one to know." _How can I explain this? She would never believe I'm turning into a dinosaur creature. And if she saw me when the change finished... would she still know its me? _Takato finally sniffled out, "I want you to know that if ever I come home, and you don't recognize me... I want you to know its still me." She had no clue what he was trying to tell her. "Well, I suppose that's as clear a reason as I'll ever get from you. Whatever it is, I'm there for you." And with that, she walked quietly out of his room. Once he saw she was a good distance away, he reached under his bed and pulled out his box of Digimon cards. "One for you. And you." And before he knew it, was asleep, hugging his collection of cards as close to him as possible.   
------------------------------   
"Where's Terriermon?" Suzie searched her brother, "And why are you wearing that? I thought you can't wear hats in here?"   
"It's not a hat. Its a hood." Lee snapped at headed into his room. He opened the sliding balcony door of his chamber and Terriermon hovered in. "Thanks for sparing me from the cruel one, Lee." he plopped down on his bed. Lee removed his jacket, seeing his ears were longer now! "They're still growing." He noticed a thin, fine bit of chocolate brown hair was growing from the tips. They could reach down to his shoulders already! "This is bad. How am I gonna hide this!?"   
That night, Lee had snatched dinner from the kitchen and ate in his room. About 10:30, both his parents were already asleep. He posted a response on his messageboard and shut off the computer. His partner had been asleep for awhile. As he shut off the light and stared out the window, he couldn't help but admire the stars outside. Maybe this will all go away tomorrow.   
-------------------------------   
Monday. Takato had turned in his essay. Upon grading it, Mrs. Usagi almost fainted. "Oh my! I don't know what website you copied this from, but its the best piece of work I've ever gotten from you!" It should be, he thought to himself, I proofread it.   
At recess, he caught up to Kazu and Kenta. "Hey guys! What's up?"   
"Nothing. I just whipped Kenta in 9 duels in a row!"   
"Aw come on! I lost that last one 'cause I wasn't paying attention."   
They argued some more, not even noticing Takato pull a grey box out of his backpack. "Why don't you challenge someone who can fight back, Kazu?"   
"You're on!"   
After getting totally pulverized by his friend, Takato began, "Guys?" They both stopped and looked at him. "I might be gone for awhile. But in the event I never come back, I want you guys to have these." He handed them his entire collection of cards, divided into two piles. "Dude, are you crazy? Those are you're cards! You wouldn't just... give them to us."   
"Yeah! What's going on!?" Kenta snorted.   
Takato just grinned, "See you later." He walked off, leaving them in complete shock. 

The alarm went off and Rika was awake in a moment, sitting in a crouched postion before standing up. Ugh. It wasn't so much school his minded as putting THAT grey uniform, she had tried wearing a boy's one for a while but her mother had almost had a heart attack, and some of the girls at school suggested she was intrested in the same 'side of the fence', Rika didn't care what others thought nomally, but this was a matter of pride and decided to go back to the girl's one. She changed into her uniform in silence, ugh, where was winter break when she needed it? As ussual she did her best to ignore her parents before walking off to her private school. Not sensing her partner's presence like she had the other day, making her wonder how she had in the first place.   
Renamon normally didn't keep this big a distance or exsert this much power to keep herself hidden, but she had a feeling Rika was not quite acting herself last night. Maybe today would bring some answers.   
___________ 

Takato was so busy looking back at his friend's shocked face he didn't look which was he was going and bumped into a puppet.   
"Hello Takato!" It said.   
"Hi Jeri." He said to the green dressed girl with her ever present smile.   
"How's Guilmon?" She asked. Takato remember how just after getting Guilmon had had the not so bright idea to show off Guilmon to his friends, Kazu and Kenta had run for the hill just from seeing the yellow eyes, they were still conviced Takato had pulled some sort of prank. Jeri, ironicly, after freaking out after seeing Calamon had keep toltally been entranced by the dino. It was just . . . she called his digimon cute . . . he was not cute! He was fearsome! "That's a really bad sun burn." She commented looking at his face and arms, it was so red and also looked scaly.   
_____   
Lee did something he hadn't done his whole life, he skipped class, there was no way they would let him wear a hood to PE, and thus, he had to hide out, he felt so ashamed of himself.   
"You know, I don't think your becoming me." Commented a voice next to him. Terriermon had followed him. It wasn't much of a risk, he could always pose as a stuffed animal.   
"Take a look at these ears a tell me that." Lee wondered when the next whatever was going to him.   
"Well, your brown, I'm beige. Our fur doesn't match."   
"Our fur?"   
"Just look at yourself."   
Lee did, his arms and legs were covered in brown fur, he knew he face was a well, he felt his fore head, no horn yet.   
______   
Dang it! Thought Rika. The pain in her lower back hadn't gone away in the night. in the middle of soical studies it became impossible to sit down had to make an excuss to use the girl's room. How humiliating. The pain was only getting worse, and some of the girl starting giving her strange look by the time she got the girls room.   
Rika felt the back of her uniform dress,(she always been glade her school didn't use the Salior Moon fukus that so many other schools did) and froze as the furry mass she felt, and worse, she could feel her hands touch it, like it was a part of her, the tamer look into the mirror and Rika gasped at her reflection, her ears wern't bigger like Lee's, but . . they wern't quite where they should of been. 

They were pointed at the end. _Maybe we're being turned into elves. _She heard a noise! Someone had just entered the bathroom! Rika dashed into one of the stalls and waited for the person to leave. The intruder seemed to be taking forever! She sat down on the floor, only to feel that same pain at the base of her spine. _What is this thing!? _A giant powderpuff attached to me? Whichever moron thought this was funny will pay. She reached over and tugged the thing. It hurt! She pulled again. Oh my God! It's... it's... NO! Lee is a fool. Putting stupid ideas in my head. I swear, once this is over... The other person finally left. "About time." She opened the door and looked at her backside in the mirror. It looked like a ball of fluff. Renamon-colored fluff! Her heart sank. "What if I really AM turning into Renamon?"   
---------------------------   
"Yaaawn" Tilley opened her eyes. She must have dozed off watching the news. "I slept late... and I love it!" She stretched out and glanced over to the clock. 11:24AM._ I don't usually sleep this late. But what a great dream! Wait a minute! What was it about? It'll come back to me._ She rolled into a sitting position. All of a sudden, a stab of pain went through her whole body! "Oww!" She leapt to her feet. Did I sit on a cactus or something? 

Tilley tried to see what had poked her but saw nothing. She carefully sat down again and felt the same thing. She repeated this once more and felt her lower back. Her insides turned to ice at what she felt. But in a distant part of her mind she still thought. _Closer to my guess. Get ready to pay up Red Head._   
_______________   
Another thought hit Rika. How the heck was she going to hide any of this until the end of the day? That was . . if she lasted till the end of the day. Rika took a step back . . since when did she walk on the balls of her feet? Now that her mind was actully looking for it, she realized just how much her nuances had changed as well. Her mass hadn't changed at all the analitial part of her brain wonder if she would. But fear, fear the likes of which the cold blooded Tamer had never known, took dominance in her mind.   
______________   
"Well these ears arn't exactly commen on every digimon you know." Replied Lee.   
_______________   
"What? Oh it's nothing, it'll be gone in a day or two the doctor told me." He lied to her. He felt his heart ach at doing so. Wern't lizard sopposed to be cold blooded? Then why was it torcher to keep his sweet shirt on? Maybe having a furnaunce in your belly made all the difference.   
"Takato I've been thinking . . . I want to be a Tamer."   
All of the strange things that had happened to Takatomon this had to be the strangest.   
"What! Jeri, this isn't just a club you can sign up for. I don't know how **I** became a Tamer. And how you'd get the idea of wanting to be one anyway?"   
"Well, to tell you the truth, I do kind of like Digimon. And I have a whole deck of cards at home. I even drew a few pictures of what my partner would look like." She handed him a few drawings. Takato thumbed through them. One was a canary-looking bird monster, another was a cutesy Rosemon, and the last was a card scan of Leomon. "Why Leomon?"   
"I just think he looks cool. That's all."   
"I don't know if..." Takato gasped. His voice! It sounded just like Guilmons!   
"My voice! It's normal again." He couldn't believe it.   
"Is something wrong, Takato?"   
------------------------------------------------   
Just them, the bell rang. _Finally! _Lee grabbed Terreirmon, pulled his hood up again, and headed for his next class. I'm gonna be late! He walked faster and faster until he was at a run. As he rounded the corner, he slammed right into another boy. "Oh. Sorry about that." Lee got to his feet, "let me help you up." The boy looked terrified. "What kind of a deformed freak are you!? Aaargggh!" He ran off. "What was that all about?" Terriermon asked. Just then, he noticed his hood had come off!   
-----------------------------------   
Tilley walked casually past the security guard. She flashed him her clearance pass. "Hmph. Nice day, eh. My bet was yesterday afternoon. Looks like I'm not getting the money." he joked. She tried to laugh, knowing her bet was closer than anyone else's. She headed through a few doors, down a long corridor, and over to the elevator. The doors slid open and a crowd of people flooded out. Tilley stepped into the elevator and found Riley there waiting for her. "Going up?" 

"Yeah, going up." Riley said "Yamaki's probably waiting up there once again... So, how are things?"   
"Good." Tilly said "Well, except for one thing... I had this weird spasm when I got up..."   
"Whoa, you too?! Same thing happened to me... Felt like I sat on a cactus!"   
"That's what i thought, too... Maybe we're just working too hard."   
"Maybe."   
And up the elevator went until *DING*. The door opened, and sure enough, Yamaki was standing there wating.   
--------------   
"No, no, nothing's wrong." Takato lied.   
--------------   
"Umm, Lee... Your hood..." Terriermon said.   
"Oh, just GREAT." Lee sighed, pulling the hood back over his head "This is NOT turning out to be a good day." 

The door to the girl's room started opening again. Agh! Didn't anyone use break anymore? Rika jumped, rougly eight feet almost touching the ceiling, and she grapped hold of the side of the stall in a squating position, her legs scream in pain from the force that they should not of been able to do but part of Rika told them they should of been able to. Rika clentch her teeth to keep from screaming. She couldn't ley anyone see her like this! Thankfully the girl's room had a open window.   
Ignoring the girl below her who did not bother to look up, Rika shakingly crawled along the rim of the stalls, by God they held her weight, finnaly she was arm's length from the open portal. Her legs still recovering, prayed no one EVER found out about this and squezed outside landed in a ferual position. Guess cats wern't the only ones who landed on their feet.   
She felt Renamon next to her in shadow form.   
"Go away!" She hissed, not caring how she had 'felt' Renamon's presence.   
The fact she sensed her was not surprising but the kitesume was shock from this reaction from her Tamer. "Rika . . . it's me . . . Renamon! Your partner!" She said assuming her phyical form. Renamon eyes widen when she saw a smaller version of her own tail sticking own from underneth the skirt of Rika's girl school uniform. Renamon tried to comfort her, Rika slapped the gloved hand away.   
_______________   
"Opss! bell! Gotta go!" Said Takato running away from Jeri and having to explain what was going on. She ran after him. They were in the same class.   
__________   
"Of course."   
"Yamaki is going to chew you out for being so late!" 

"Nice to see you." Yamaki told them, kind as possible, "Everything is up and running. My program is at full strength."   
The girls were shocked. "Maybe he's sick. He's never this nice."   
He continued, "I've already found that they're looking for some interns down in marketing. Your resumes are on your chairs."   
Riley smiled, "There's the Yamaki we all know and hate."   
------------------------   
_Now what are they doing?_ He thought, looking over Kazu and Kenta. A bell had just rung. "What is that supposed to mean?" The two boys gathered their cards and ran into the building. They had forgotten one. Impmon leapt from his tree and picked it up. "Kokitorymon. What kind of a retard name is that!" He observed the card. "He looks kinda scary." Calamon hovered down.   
"What are you doing here! Don't make me delete you for following me!"   
"Why are you so mean? Did Lee torture you too?"   
"Night of Fire!" Impmon threw his tiny fireball at Calamon, who flew above it and kicked him in the head.   
"Ow! Why you little son of a..." He brandished the card and used it like a knife, giving Calamon a paper cut on his arm.   
"Is that all? I thought you said you were strong."   
"..." Impmonm didn't know what to say. "I hate you. I will make it my life mission to see to it you're delelted! Bada-boom!" He ran off, sobbing, still holding the card. 

Calamon's ear strunk to their mini-size. His face full of pity. Poor Impmon. Calamon had come to the conclusion the digimon didn't know HOW to be friendly. Maybe he could teach him later. Calamon looked at the brick building. Now what could he do for fun? Watching humans was always entertaining, maybe the humans inside might be doing intresting. They ussual wern't but it didn't hurt to check he though as he hoped up to one of the branches.   
________________________________   
"Come on." Said Riley. "Yamaki can't cancel our contracts so let's get to work. Besides, the betting pool is still going."   
"Actully." Tilley started. "That's something I want to talk to you about."   
_______   
"Rika I just want to help you." Pleaded the fox.   
"I don't want or need your help!" Hissed Rika. It was like a knife for Renamon, but not for the words themselves, but because Renamon years before had heard them before, coming out of her own mouth.   
Renamon closed her eyes. She could see her own family. A stab of sadness tore through her heart. Rika curled into a ball and started crying. "What if I stay like this? A furry freak?" Renamon's ears perked up. "No offense. I wish I could just be invisible. The world leave me alone." As she said that, her body became transparent, fading into the wall. Only her shadow remained. "Rika! You... can go into a shadow form! Like I can!" She didn't notice it until her partner had told her. She couldn't find her hands. Or anything else of her. "How do I turn back?" she moaned.   
"Its hard to explain. Feel... feel like you're stepping into a warm light."   
Rika wasn't sure how. She tried, but it didn't work. _A warm light?_ She remembered one summer. She could feel herself fading back. "Awesome! This might not be so bad." She glanced at her body. "Oh God no!" The shapeshifting had caused the transformation to speed up! her tail was now long enough to reach the back of her knees, and her whole body was covered in a golden fur. Renamon could only gape in amazement. "Rika..."   
Rika took a step back, Renamon noted it was on the balls of her feet. Rika fell over, her brain hadn't finnish being rewired to her new body yet, she fell back, on instint she shot her hands backward to catch herself, she sat herself in a squat position then put herself on her back as her feet began to moan with pain.   
Rika took off the hard confining uniform shoes, her feet quick no longer in the correct shape, her shocks streaching, and the joints of her ankle no longer right. Rika gasped an turned red when she realized just what the new tail was pushing down her legs to make room for itself. For November it was quickly getting hot. Rika took off the uniform jacket thankfully leaving the shirt underneth. Rika had never been vain, but now she felt her hair, afraid it was going to suddenly fall out on her.   
The kitesume knew she could do nothing, was afraid to do anything but watch as the Rika she knew became less and less, she wasn't growing larger, but her perportions were differntly changing. Rika hated herself for crying. Rika hated the world for making this happen to her. She didn't want to let anyone close to her, but she didn't want to be alone! Rika wanted to faint. She wanted to go insane. She didn't want to be awake for this! She cursed herself for thinking that! She was stronger than this! Stronger than those weaklings! But this wasn't a battle of wills. The change was happing, no matter what she did.   
Renamon held onto her Tamer as her fur began thicker. Rikamon was in too much of mental anguish to refuse this time.   
________________________   
"What do you mean?" Riley retorted.   
"Well," Tilley explained, "My bet is today, before lunch. Let's make this interesting. If you can guess Yamaki's exact words when his plan backfires, I'll give a cut of my winnings." Riley smiled slyly at her coworker, "Why so confident? Its not like you'll win. But..." She let out a sigh, "I'm betting, 'What! How can this be? My program was perfect!' " Her and Tilley shook hands, sealing the bet.   
------------------------------------------   
_Maybe I can live with this. But what's happening now... the pain and dizziness... I can make it go away if I just finish._ Gathering as much strength as was left in her body, Rika stood up and imagined that she was locked away in a dark corner of a huge building. "Rika! What are you doing! If you shift into a shadow form, the transformation will speed up!"   
"I know." the Tamer coldly replied.   
Then she was gone. Nothing more than a shadow on the wall. Rika... no. A tear streaked down Renamon's furry cheek. "Why are you crying?" a voice whispered. "Rika?" But it wasn't Rika. She faded into view fully transformed. "Don't worry. Its still me. I think."   
Calamon sudently felt dizzy, he body plumeted towards the concrete and was saved from deletion only from his ears fanning out at the last second. The tiny red triangle on Calamon's head flashed a few times, and darkened slightly, Calamon couldn't explain it, but he knew now that something was missing, he didn't know what though, and it scared him to know and yet not to know, like a cut outline of the picure a forgotten friend you KNEW something was sopposed to be there, but you no idea what.   
______________________________   
"Rika why?"   
"I . . . just wanted it over with."   
Renamon didn't know how to react. Rika's (or was it Rikamon now? . . .) uniform was a wreak, the alien body shape when shape shifting back to phyical form had torn it apart, Renamon blinked at the remains of white cloth around Rika's feet that were not her socks. The eyes were the same. Though now shaped completly like Renamon's they were a deep violet, like Rika's human eyes had been. She didn't have any gloves, whatever had happened to her didn't have cloths in as a factor. Her voice was the same as before, and she had said 'It's still me' which meant her mind must of still been intact. She still only reached up to her shoulders at best, which Renamon guessed made sense, she was several years older than Rika.   
Rika ideally looked at her school uniform began tearing off what was left of it.   
"Rika . . ." Renamon started alarmed.   
"It not like I have anything to hide anymore." Rika said matter of fact. Too matter of fact. Renamon knew that voice. It was the one Rika used to put up the heavey protective front while her insides were in termoil. The two kitesumes looked at each other, nothing covering Rika now except her new fur. A question hit Rika like a thunderclap. Would her D-Arc and cards still respond to her like this?   
"Renamon." Rika said, her voice now showing the aprehention Renamon already was there. " . .. I want to go home." She said plainy, not in her normal cold tone, but . . . like a child weary of being ill and asking to leave school for the day.   
The fox could do nothing but comply. But first. "Pick those up." She pointed a gloved hand at what was left of Rika's uniform.   
"What?"   
"People are going to think you got molested or something."   
Rika complied after a moment.   
"Now hold on." Said Renamon hugging a startled Rika as the older kitesume shifted into shadow form for the both of them.   
"Renamon...!"   
"Sssshhh."   
Two boys passed by, obviously ditching class. "You know the Owls will win. They're undefeated. And our team is so pathetic."   
"Wouldn't be if Coach Auru trained 'em better..."   
The voices slowly faded away, getting further and further. Renamon shifted back to normal. "I... didn't hear them coming. Not used to having ears like this. Thanks." Rika mumbled. "Lets go home." She picked up her torn clothes. As she scooped up what was left, she found her deck. "I have a new card. Takato seemed to use it on Guilmon a lot, so I decided to get one too." She drew a card and examined her Digivice. _Will I still be able to DigiModify Renamon?_ Rika hesitated for a moment.   
**"DigiModify:**   
**Hyper Wings: ACTIVATE"**   
-----------------------------------------------   
Takato refused to even look in Jeri's direction. "I have a stack of papers here that need to be passed out. Let's see..." Mrs. Usagi looked around the room, "Takato! If you can wake up long enough, please pass these out." He groaned, but obeyed his teacher's demand. The very first paper he had to pass out, "Jeri! It figures." He shielded his face with his jacket, which he was still wearing to conseal the white scales that now covered his chest. "Here." He tossed her the paper and shuffled off. "Wait!" Jeri called from behind him, "When did you get those markings on your face?"   
_Markings on my face!?_   
The whole class was giving him strange looks. As he handed Kazu his paper, he saw himself in the window. "What the..." His face had black markings on it that looked vaguely like the ones on Guilmon's face! He could only stare in disbelief. "Takato, the whole point of handing back work is to keep moving. What's so fascinating about your reflection?" 

The device flashed, and sparked, both digimon jolted in pain, Renamon knew something was wrong, Rika felt like her insides were being torn apart atom by atom, (or was it data bit by data bit?) Rika yeld and fell to her knees, dropping her D-Arc to the ground.   
Digimon can't modify each other she guessed bitterly. She fought the tears threating to come and maraculasly succceded. Rika ideally noticed the words flashing on the D-Arc's screen. 

ERROR   
HUMAN DATA 98% CORRUPTED 

You can say that again. 

DATA MODIFICATION ERROR   
UNALE TO PROFORM DUEL MODIFICATION 

It took a few seconds for Rika to realize what the machine meant. When she had Slashed the card, the D-Arc hadn't been able to tell which one of them was the digimon, so it tried and failed to do them both. 

SYSTEM REBOOTING   
SOFTWARE AND HARDWARE CHECK ITNITALIZED   
DATA RECYNCRONIZATION ITITATED 

What did that mean? Rika thought ignorantly. This thing had more surprises than a fun house. 

"Did you hear that yell?"   
"We better check it out."   
Rika recognized the two voice from the two before.   
"I think we better leave now." Breathed Rena not as disoriented as Rika(mon?) was and took hold of her. "Just trust me." She whispered as they both vanished. 

"Nothing Miss . . . Miss Usagi." Said Takato hiding his face with one hand (still human though going stiff again) holding the papers under his arm and using his other hand to pass them out. He could only hope he stayed human enough to last the rest of the day. The itching had stopped on his arms he didn't want to find out why.   
Now he could hear their whispers. His fellow classmates were talking about him. "...red arms..."   
"...triangle tatoo on his forehead..."   
"...sitting like that..."   
"...legs don't look normal..."   
He couldn't take it! It was bad enough he was turning into Guilmon, but he must already have his super-hearing ability.   
"Maybe its to get attention?"   
That one made him snap. He could endure everyone else talking about him, but Kenta? Takato leapt from his desk and knocked his friend down. "What was that, KENTA!!!" he screamed, voice no longer human.   
"Takato! What's gotten into you! Get off him now!" Mrs. Usagi grappled him off the sobbing boy, "You're going straight to the..." Takato turned on her. Then, without even a moments thought, sunk his teeth deep into her arm. She cried out in pain. Takato(mon?) glared at the semi-circle of students that had gathered around him._ They're all crowding around me... want to attack. Run. Away? _His head looked all around the room. An open window! He charged at it, leaping carelessly onto the sidewalk, then and running off.   
"Mrs. Usagi? Are you ok?" One of the students helped his dazed instructor to her desk. "I... I'll be right back." She staggered out of her room, down to the faculty restrooms. She cleaned the blood from the bite marks Takato had given her. _That kid is soooo expelled._ She glanced up at the mirror and gasped. Her nose was a lot smaller, and triangular than before! _God, what is this!_ As she checked over herself, she got a strange, tingly feeling. The same kind of feeling she had been getting since that morning. "Maybe... maybe its all in my head. I need a vacation." 

Lee was having better luck than the other Tamers hiding his alfiction, he just needed to remember to bit his tong to keep his flip remarks from flying out of his mouth. Terrriermon was hiding outside as ussual. The tap on the window close to Lee gave the familar patter and Lee turn to see Terriermon pointing behind himself. Lee had just enough time to see a blue and red mass run across the play ground and leap over the wall. That meant one thing. Takato. The change must of finnaly gotten to him. Lee had to go after him, in his state of mind he was likly to hurt someone, or himself.   
Shallowing his self respect Lee used the oldest excuess in school history.   
"Uh, may I please use the bathroom?" 

The worest half minute of Lee's life later he ran outside the class Terriermon leaped onto his shoulder, Lee felt his hood go off, his didn't care, he felt his ears touch his back, ugh, he had never until now considered just how bizzare and absurd most digimon looked, gaint ears, one horn on the middle of the head, green and beige fur? What were those game designers on? Lee knew Takato was bound to go one of two places. One was to Guilmon's hutch. The other of course, was home. If Takato was able to think he would head to Guilmon to keep from attracting the attention of the police or the zoo, but, if his mental power had gone down far enough, he would head were his emotions told him he would be most safe, that could only be the goggle wearer's family apartment. And Lee knew he didn't have time to go to both.   
______________   
"Takato . . . " Jeri said in fear and concern. Why didn't he tell her what was wrong? Didn't he trust her? He trusted her with Guilmon. She believed him that Guilmon was real when everyone else conviced themselves he was just a stuffed animal with flash light eyes. She had thought they were becoming friends. She metally pictured her puppet and looked at her hand. _What should I do?_   
_______________   
When the young Kitesume felt the feel of the December First sun on her fur she opened her eyes and saw they were on the roof of her family's house. She looked up at Renamon.   
"How did we get here so fast? It felt like moments."   
Still holding the youngling, Renamon said. "Time is unrelavent in shadow form, it could of been seconds or hours and you wouldn't know the difference."   
_________________   
Takato's mind was not trapped, buried, or even being erased, it simply, from what he could understand, was being reformatted to suit his new body, in fact, maybe that was why the mental changes started first, to keep him from going insane from the mental shock that a new form would give him, as Takatomon changed, being human became less and less an issue. Of course, that would imply that FinalAnswer was designed for this. It wasn't. In any case, if someone was to know these things, they would want to know how the viris was acting this way at all.   
Takato finally opened his eyes. He had been running with them closed the whole way. And the funny thing is, it was actually easier to find his way without his sight. He could smell his way around. Coming back to his senses, he realized he was in the park, close to Guilmon's hiding place. _Maybe I can hide there _"Guilmon?" He opened the bar gate and found his partner sleeping cozily in the little tunnel he dug. Not a bad idea, I guess. Takato laid down beside him and fell asleep. 

"Hey! Wake up! The both of you!" Takato rubbed his eyes, then asked the one question on his mind: "Is it lunchtime already?" His eyes adjusted to the light and saw a large and rather odd looking Terriermon trying to wake him. "Leemon?"   
"Leemon? Anyone want some Leemon-aide?" the real Terriermon joked.   
"Not funny." Lee pushed him off his shoulder. "I kind of figured you'd come here. Its closer than your house. By the way, before I left, I got this from my locker." He tossed him a hooded cloak. "You might need it."   
"If you're supposed to be Terriermon," Takato sleepily declared, "Why are you brown?"   
Mrs. Usagi shook her head, she had to be just seeing things. Maybe a vacation wouldn't be such a bad idea. The country? But then again the class was secqualed to take a trip there on Friday anyway. She needed somwhere that wouldn't remind her of her job. Unforcunatly, that was a more than diffacult task.   
___________   
_Now what am I going to do? I can't show myself to mother or grandma like this, they'll think I'm a changling or something trying to take their daughter's place. And what this thing mean by "resync" anyway? What can I do? Where can I go?_   
"We should find the others." Said Renamon at last.   
"What?"   
"Takato and Lee, they were changing too, they might not of been able to hide away in time when it entered it's omega stage, they won't be fully changed like you because of what you did."   
"Why should I?"   
"It's the honorable thing to do."   
"Honor doesn't win victories." Some things never changed.   
"A victory without honor is empty, and you have to live by honor to actully do it." Renamon realized she had never spoken to Rika like this before, why the change now? Maybe seeing a ten year old Renamon instead of a ten year old human had it's effects on her mentallity. Surprisingly Rika relented.   
"Yes, mother ." Said Rika with sarcasim. Renamon inwardly flinched. She kept her mind on business to keep herself from being distracted.   
"You remember where their school is?" Renamon asked.   
"Yes."   
"Lead the way."   
"What?"   
Renamon didn't miss a beat. "Child, you have the legs now, the sooner you start learning how to use them the better."   
Rika realized what Renamon had just said. "Child? . . . ."   
Renamon dodged the inqury. "Arn't you the one who says we waste so much time talking? Just follow my lead." Renamon leap from roof top to tree to the top of the garden wall. "Now let's see you try, unless of course you can't." Renamon would of never baited Rika before, this reminded of how she used to bait . .. no, don't think about that now.   
_______________   
"I think I'm becoming Lopemon."   
"Lopmon?" Takato asked "I thought we had to turn into our partner Digimon."   
"I dunno either." Lee shrugged. Lopmon. Terrerimon's twin. "Maybe we're supposed to be twins of our Digimon or something."   
-------------------------------------   
Rika closed her eyes and sighed. "Ok, here goes." She crouched down, then leapt futher than she ever could as a human. The second her paws touched the tree branch, she instinctually bounded off it and landed gracefully on the wall. "Wow, that was a lot easier than I thought it would be." she beamed. "Hey Renamon, I'll race you to the school!"   
The kitesume was shocked on how fast Rika was catching on, it made her wonder how much of behavior was detirmend by biology. The cohordanation that was becoming confusing in old body was in perfect synic with her new one and before Renamon could even answer Rika was leaping from one spot to another in previous impossible bounds for her. Was it digimon's imagination, or was Rika's voice actully happy? A little strange consider what she had just gone though. Her adjustment was too easy for Renamon's tastes, every part of Rika to the former human was an exstention of herself, she should of been scared out of wits or snapping at everything around her like she was eariler.   
Renamon then noticed that if she start soon, Rika was going to beat her to the finnish line. The kitesume leaped after the new digimon in a blur, she'd given Rika a good head start and the digimon honesty found herself enjoying the race. What she heard next almost caused her to magically stop in mid jump and fall like a rock to the hard street below, Rika laughed, not one of her cold humor less short laughs, but a what for any other child's Rika's age would of been the laughter of a child caught in the pleasure of being alive. Of all the things that had happened to Rika, for Renamon, this was by far the most disoritenting, on one hand that laugh was like a good send, on another, it was foreboding making her wonder if might be being over written. Renamon became determend to beat the child to the boy's school.   
________________   
"I'm confused." Said Takato still next to the continously sleeping Guilmon his voice high a nasel, like his parter's.   
"Takato, when did your voice change?" Lee(mon?) asked. Takato was just more confused.   
"What's wrong with my voice?"   
"You should just like Guilmon now."   
"So?"   
"Well," Said Terriermon. "He's well on his way to dino brain's mental level."   
"I don't think that quite right, after all, when was the last time anyone noticed their voice changing from puperity?"   
Takato(mon?) was struggling with what Leemon, Lee, ???, just said, he hadn't always sounded like Guilmon? No, of course he hadn't! But, there didn't seem anything wrong with sounding like Guilmon. Takato looked at his hands, now completly covered in red scales, after looking himself over he realized he looked like someone had taken Guilmon and given him a human shape, his felt his back, no tail yet, ears still round (why had he given him Pattamon's ears?), also MUCH to his relief he hadn't gone bald, he could still pass for a human being if no one got a good look at him, the world changed colors again, or . . . where they back to normal? Takato sudden realized he couldn't remember which colors were sopposed to be right! "Help me . . ." Takatomon whispered as he felt a chill run down his body.   
Guilmon woke up, Takatomon smell afraid, but it was more than that, it was almost impossible to recognize his scent now Guilmon was also surprised at the color of his partner's skin.   
"Are you molting?" He asked innocently just noticing Terriermon and Leemon(he smell hadn't changed as much as Takatomon's but still more than noticable).   
"No." Was a strangly bitter reply. Where had Guilmon heard that voice before his partner now made? 

"Is that what I sound like?" he asked. Guilmon had never heard himself speak. He burst out laughing, "I really sound funny! Takatomon, why did you give me such a weird voice?"   
"Whats wrong with this voice? Its not like I could specify what you would sound like on paper."   
Lee glared at them. "This is serious!"   
"Momentai, Lee."   
Never before had Lee wished so much for his sister to just come and torment Terriermon before.   
-------------------------------------------   
"Sir, this is the strangest reading." Riley called down to her employer, "I think something's wrong with the whole system. Its faintly detecting three wild ones in this very room. And those kids you were monitoring... their monsters seem to have replicated somehow."   
"These monsters can reproduce?"   
"Except for one, these new creatures aren't offspring. They're more like clones."   
Yamaki dropped his lighter. As he bent over to pick it up, he realized this was at least the 19th time he had dropped it in the past half hour. But it kept slipping out of his fingers. Were they longer? _Acursed thing. Need to find a new one_. "Has a probe been sent to delete them?"   
"They're not in the computer."   
The anger was building. "What's the point of having a multi-million dollar project that can't even find the blasted things!" Clenching his fist tight, he heard something snap. His lighter! He had just crushed it into a ball. "I'm be back soon. Call me if you get any new info." Yamaki stepped out of the room and ran down the hall. 

_Can this thing go any slower?_ He silently cursed the elevator's speed. Finally, he heard a little 'ding' and the door slid open. He briskly headed out the door. "Arrgh!" The sunlight! "Are things always this bright!!?" He shielded his eyes with his arm. His shades didn't seem to be helping. Then he almost got hit by a car passing through the parking lot. Ready to kill the next thing that got in his way, he managed to reach his own vehicle. Yamaki pulled the door open and reached into the glove. The little compartment opened, revealing a whole stockpile of lighters he must keep on reserve. 

Rika completly lost herself in the adrinaline rush as she leap from tree top to tree top, and then when she was in the inner city she jumped from one telephone poll to the other. It was like the sweet mist of half sleep, only her inner self was clear enough to enjoy it was the the way her heart slammed in her chest, the way her legs pumped, nothing but her fur covering her with the wind beating against her body, she wondered if it was this way for Renamon too.   
She was so engulfed in the experince of it all she almost over jumped the school and had leaped clear from one end of the school to the other in just a few bounds. In one liquide motion Rika turned around and leaped into one of the trees planted near the class rooms she started at who she sensed next to her.   
"Took you long enough." Said Renamon as she shifted into her phyical form. "I beat you here by a whole five seconds, still you didn't do that bad for your first distance run."   
"You beat me." Said Rika simply a little surprised.   
"That looked like fun! Can I join in?" Calamon jump from his spot above them his ears fully spreed out onto a neiboring branch. The child digimon looked between the two digimon.   
He looked right at Rika. "You don't look so good. I knew something happened to you, but I didn't know what."   
"What do you mean you knew something had happened to me?"   
"I just . . . felt that something was changing about you . . . "   
"Felt? What are you phyic?"   
"What's that?"   
"Never mind . . . Have you seen Takato or Lee?"   
Calamon looked sad. "Something happened to him, he started feeling more and more different then he ran away. All the kids inside seemed confused, and this red stuff was on the big lady's arm after he put his mouth there." Rika thought for a minute.   
"He bit the teacher? . . . His brain's history, so what about Lee?"   
"Him and Terriermon left a minute later."   
"Do you see where?" Asked Renamon.   
"Uh . . . away."   
"Thanks helpful." Rika mumbled.   
"Did Takato hurt anyone else?" Renamon inquired.   
"I don't think so, though a girl felt really said and this other kid was scared." Renamon decided not to ask how he knew how they felt.   
"Great, they could be anywhere." Said Rika crossing her arms and swinging one leg over the branch.   
"No . . . ." Said Renamon to herself. "Takato wouldn't go just anywhere, even if he's all the way gone, I've never known a digimon that didn't know where it's home was."   
"And if he's as much Guilmon as what happened suggests, he'll go to Guilmon's hideaway."   
"He may not all the way Rika . . . you've stopped changing, at least phyically, and you still think of your bed room as home."   
"What you mean 'at least phyically?'" Asked Rika, her behavior hadn't changed at all, but then again, how would she notice?   
__________________________   
"We can't be so causual about this!' Lee said sternly. "Or am I the only one whose still worried how our familes are going to react when they see us like this?" That snapped Takato back to reality.   
"Mom . . . dad." He looked at his hands again, no claws yet, but how much longer what that going to last? "I . . . I don't want to forget them." A tear came down his face.   
_________________________   
While Mrs. Usagi was away, Jeri looked in Takato's desk, he had drawings of what seemed to be an adult version of Guilmon, not QUITE as cute as his normal self, but still cool.   
She reached over and snatched them away. On the bottom were a few scratched out names. _DeluxeGuilmon. Rexmon. Redramon. Growmon. Superiormon. Takatomo _The last one seemed to have stopped as it was being written. "That must be when he went crazy on us." She looked out the open window her friend had escaped through and saw two anthropomorphic foxes standing outside. They were speaking to a little white creature. The white one! She had seen him before! 

Renamon sensed something. "Rika, I feel we're being watched."   
"By who? We're better at going undescovered than any chameleon."   
"THERE!" Renamon pointed at Jeri, staring at them through the window!   
"Crud! Run, before she gets us caught!" Rika scooped up Calumon and jumped high atop the roof. "Guilmon's place." And then they were gone. They had left so fast, it was almost like a mirage.   
_____________________________________ 

"Momentai, Takato. Everything will be alright." Terriermon hovered down to Takato, who was down on his knees crying. "I already told my mom goodbye. If she sees me like this, and I explain it all, maybe... I don't know... you think we'll be this way forever?" Before Lee could try to comfort him, their Digivices started beeping. "Aw, great. If there's one thing we don't need right now..." 

Lee pulled his hood back over his head and peered out of the doorway. "Coast is clear." He stepped carefully out, trying to remain unseen. Terriermon was hanging on to his back, doing his best impression of a stuffed animal. Guilmon walked out casually with Takato following. "Yeah. Try not to act suspicious. Kinda obvious something's going on if a guy comes by wearing a hooded cloak." He retorted.   
"Better than them seeing you with a bad sunburn."   
He noticed Takato wasn't walking upright anymore. Now he was hunched over, walking in a way that resembled Guilmon's. "Hrmmmm..."   
______________________________________   
"Um, Rika?" Calumon tried to get her attention, but she was enjoying herself too thoroughly to hear him. "Your remote control thing is glowing." She still didn't hear. He reached down and plucked the Digivice from her fur. "I wonder if it plays Tetris? Oops." One of Rika's leaps had made him drop the Digivice! "Hope she won't be mad at me."   


Yamaki picked out a new one, and flicked it to see if it was worthy of use. It seemed pretty good. FlickflickflickCRUNCH.   
"Grah!" he snarled "What is going on?"   
And so, he picked out another... flickflickflickflickplop. he picked it back up... FlickflickCRUNCH.   
"Bah, forget it!" he sighed, and stuffed his entire stash of lighters into his pockets.   
---------------------   
"Now you're WALKING like Guilmon, Takato." Terriermon noted.   
"No, I am NOT." Takato denied, in that odd squeaky voice "Hmm, my bottom feels weird... Great, I think I'm growing a tail... Say, Lee, you have any peanut butter? .... Yep, I'm going further."   
"Yeah, I think we have peanut butter..." Lee sighed.   
"Yay!" cheered Takato, before sighng. 

Jeri blinked, she was sure those creatures had been in that tree a second ago. And she HAD seen that white creature before. It was the one who has scared her out of her wits that time she was in the Nurse's Office. What had it been doing here? But did weird creatures NEED a reason to be somewhere? Maybe not. Thought Jeri. But who had those two foxes been? She thought back to some fairy tales, had see possibly seen . . . a pair of kitesume? For a girl Jeri's age, nothing was too far fetched.   
____________   
"Peanut butter?" Said Guilmon the digimon tempoarly forgotten.   
"Actully I just said that to test Tatako." Lee repiled.   
"I wonder how much longer what the word test means."   
"What a test." Asked the red viris.   
Taktato just sighed. Terriermon glided behind him. "If it makes you feel any better, I think your weird feeling is your hips are still moving into place, you haven't started getting a tail just yet." 

"That's not very helpful, Terreirmon." Takato grumbled. Lee grabbed his Digivice and switched it to compass mode. "Northeast, about 5 blocks away."   
"Which direction is northeast?" both Guilmons chimed in unison.   
"Nevermind. Just... follow me." Lee put the Digivice back in his pocket. It seemed bigger for some reason. Or maybe he was just shrinking. Great. Why couldn't Lopmon be just a few feet taller?   
______________________________________   
Yamaki glared out over the parking lot. "Why is it so damn bright outside today!!??" He took a lighter from his pocket and crumpled it in his hand without noticing. "And since when are these things so weak!!" He punched his fist into a blue truck behind him, leaving a large dent in its tailgate. He could only stare in amazement. "I... need to calm down. And get out of this sunlight. Its so strong." If only his eyes could endure looking at the sky, he would have noticed the sun was behind a light filter of clouds. 

The data digimon decided to place himself back in his normal stuffed animal postion.   
"Ugh, Terriermon I don't think I'll be able to carry you for that much longer."   
"So I better enjoy it while I can." He chimed.   
"Come on guys let's-" Both GUilmon and Takato ran by him, both head's leaned forward, both in conceration.   
"Looks like the rovers found the scent." Commented Terriermon.   
"I hope Takato doesn't have a mental relapes and tries to take on the digimon half changed, he'll get himself killed."   
"Mommentai Lee, don't worry about stuff that might happen, worry about the stuff that is! There gonna beats us if we just stand here!"   
"Oh right." Lee took after them his cloths were a bit looser than before, but still held on as normal. 

"Have you noticed Takato can run a lot faster now?" Lee seemed to be having a hard time keeping up with the Guilmon and his Tamer.   
"Maybe you're just getting slower." Terreirmon commented. Before he could reply, there was a strong gust of wind. Suddenly, his ears fanned out. "Whoa...." they were going to get out of his hood. "Terr... eir... mon! How do you control these kite ears!?" Just then, the breeze died down and he tucked them back into his hood. "At least over with. Oh no!" A group of teenage girls appeared from the corner. "Look! What a cute stuffed animal!"   
"..." 

"Do you smell it?"   
"Yeah! A Digimon!" Takato's eyes were narrowed. "The Digital Field." They cautiusly set foot in there.   
"I don't see anything, Takatomon."   
"Me neither, but... LOOKOUT!"   
Something fell from the sky and slammed into the ground before them.   
_____________________________   
"I win! Wahoo!" Rika couldn't help but celebrate her victory. She beat Renamon to the shrine.   
"Good job, young one. You learn surprisigly fast. Although... I let you win."   
"Suuure you did." Rika teased. She climbed down gazed into the room. "They're not here! Not even Guilmon! Where else could they have gone?"   
Renamon had a faraway look in her eyes.   
"Renamon!"   
"Hrrmm? Oh sorry. Perhaps at Takato's house?"   
"Hmm... maybe. You know what?" Rika sprang into the air and bounded away, "Race ya!"   
"Worse than a fox kit." Renamon chased after her. 

Takato and Guilmon growled at the eight legged digimon that had landed in front of them.   
With instint as strong as his new ones, Takato look out his D-Arc, and it holographicly displayed the information on the gaint spider digimon though he had seen it already on the season 01 TV show. 

[image] http://www.megchan.com/digimon/encyclopedia/cards/st019.jpg [/image] 

**_" Dokugamon_**   
_Ultimate Level, viris type, bug catagory. Her posine thread attack continues to do damge even after the itital hit. So in other words, scattar!"_ Tamer and digimon ran seprate ways as the violet stream of toxic matterial hit where they had been standing.   
"Time for some beef up. . . " Though his mind was being affected by his new form, his love of digimon allow him to for the time being to slip automaticly into Tamer mode.   
**"DigiModify:**   
**Black Gear: ACTIVATE"**   
_____________   
It was increadable how much Rika's personality was changing, was what was more distracting to Renamon was that Rika wasn't noticing in the least. Then again, who notices their own behavior that much? Renamon could only hope Rika, the Rika she knew and cared for, didn't get lost in this change. Running for the fun of it was an alien concept to Rika, and yet here she was doing exactly that, Renamon doubled her efforts to beat the new digimon in this race, she needed to ask Rika some questions when they got to the boy's house. 

Takato's Digivice glowed for a few seconds, but nothing happened. Then the words, "User Data altered. Confirming user. Processing" came across the screen. A pic of the card he swiped flashed on the screen. Guilmon was temporarily paralyzed as a dark gear flew into his chest. His whole body changed from red to crimson and the white scales on his chest became black, his markings white. "Now, go get 'em!" Takato called out. Whether Guilmon was obeying orders, or just attacking because he was now evil, he charged head on into Dokugamon. The virus spider let out a blood-curdling scream. "Pyro Sphere!" he shot a huge fireball into Dokamon's abdomen. "Aaauugh! That burns! Feel my power! Poison Thread!" She spewed a fine mist of cobwebs onto her attacker. Guilmon spat a fireball into either hand. Then, clutching the little fireballs as tight as he could, he charred his way through the mist of webs. "Nice move, buddy!" 

"Um, we... have to go now. Bye." Lee snatched Terriermon away from the girl that was goggling over him.   
"No! Wait! He's so cute! At least tell me where you bought him!"   
Lee ran into the fog, hoping they wouldn't follow. "I think Takato and Guilmon are already in here."   
"Wow, I think Guilmon went ballistic or something. He's pulverizing that spider thing." Terriermon spoke up.   
Takato, almost unblinkingly, glared at Dokugamon. The ugly beast never left his sight. He had a determined look in him. "Poison Thread!" This one seemed to hit Guilmon before he could dodge. "Guilmon!!" Takato clenched his fists and breathed in. "Pyro Sphere!" he screamed.   
"Amazing. The change has gone so far, he thinks he can attack." Lee whispered to his partner.   
"Even more amazing," Terriermon replied, "he _did_ attack!"   
"Wha...!"   
Sure enough, a tiny, almost pathetic little fireball shot from Takato's mouth, hitting Dokugamon squarely in one of her eight eyes.   
Dokugamon shrieked.   
"Ahhh, my eye! Why you little... Poison Thread!"   
Takato dodged it, almost flawlessly! he tried another Pyro Sphere, and this one was bigger, but Dokugamon dodged it and fired her attack again, and it hit Takato!   
"Ahhh!" he yelled, the poison taking effect...   
Lee suddenly yelled out something...   
-----------------   
Yamaki grumbled ~Why was it all so bright?~ he thought to himself. 

The spider turned it's attention from the viris digimon to Takato, was that a human or a digimon? It had used an attack so it had to be a digimon, but, there was something weird about how it looked. No, matter, if it screamed and just died it was a human, if it scattared into downloadable data it was a digimon. Takato realized he just stuck a stick into a hornet's nest. And took a step back. Lee noted how much Takato had changed just from the short while he had just seen him, his eyes, while staying true blue, were now slited like Guilmon's. Was it his imagination, or as soon as he entered the digital field, did Terrermon feel a little heavier than a second before?   
Lee shook off the thought knowing they had to get Takato out of the line of fire and fast.   
**"DigiModify:**   
**Hyper Speed: ACTIVATE"**

"Hmmm . . . now what can I do to torment some pathetic little humans today?" Thought Impmon looking down at the busy side walk, maybe just some random little Devil Flames to stire them up would be fun. He flicked his finger and the red flame poped into being. "Ine, mini, mo- whha~!" The violet digimon was knocked over the side by a yellow furry blure, he caught the edge of the building and draged himself up, Renamon, did that lady know that wasn't how you treated a person with as much as class as- Impmon was knocked over the edge AGAIN, by ANOTHER yellow furred blurr.   
He dragged himself back up, checking to make sure nothing else was coming his way he mumbled.   
"Okay, was there just a loop in the space time continium, or did I just cross into the Twillight zone? Since when did toots have a relative in town?" 

As they raced across the roof tops, Renamon's mind was completely focused she had never noticed Impmon as she decided she had let Rika hold her lead long enough and bursted foreward and was easily in the ahead of her, Rika was younger, but Renamon had assemilated the data of more digimon than she could count.   
Her eyes grew wide at she saw a few blocks east of them and stopped dead in her tracks, as Rika raced past her she got the girl's tail in her gloved hand causing Rika to shrike in pain (not unlike Renamon had when her mother had caught her like that,) and she only just manage not to land on her tosh as the kitesume let go a second later. 

His Digivice too awhile to respond. "Come on, work you stupid piece of junk!" Lee gave it a few taps, until finally it read PROCESSING. Terreirmon looked excited.   
"Aptiva!" and he sped off. "Terrier Tornado!" He whipped around and around, slicing the webbing off Takato.   
"Thanks." he groggily said. Guilmon, on the other end of the battlefield, was struggling to get out. Being contained seemed to make his rage worse! Terreirmon spun over to him and cut him loose. Faster than you could blink an eye, Guilmon was clawing and biting at Dokugamon. "I... I want to fight too." Takato was trying to keep himself down. He was starving for a battle. "Cool, it, Takato! I think battling makes the process go faster."   
"Why?" he growled in response.   
"Because when you started, you didn't really have a tail. Now, well, look!" Lee pointed to his friend's backside. Sure enough, there was a thick stub, the very beginnings of a lizardy-looking tail.   
"At least I can balance now! Its hard to walk like this!" 

Lee sighed, he had a feeling that the more Takato changed, the more that staying human was going to be less important to him. Guilmon attacked with all four limbs as he climbed onto her back where she couldn't user her poison attack, and he began to wear down on her heavey armor.   
"Why you little-" The ultimate flipped on her side using her own wieght to smash Guilmon into the ground.   
"Guilmon!" Takato struggled to help his partner but Lee managed to hold him back (it felt like the Lopmon in the making's arms almost got pulled out of their sockets).   
"Takato no! Your digivice still works help him that way!"   
It took a second to resistered as the gaint spider continued to twist around on her back grinding Guilmon into the street.   
Takato finnaly knew which card he needed.   
**"DigiModify:**   
**Flamedramon's Aura: ACTIVATE"**

His Digivice was stalling again. "Come on... come on!" It finally beeped. Down from beneath Dokugamon, there was a brilliant flash of light. She screamed and leapt back onto all eights, trying to put the fire on her back out. Guilmon stood up, an aura of fire surrounding him. "Want some more?" he charged into the poisonous spider, lighting her on fire once again. "Arrh! Poison Thread!" Dokugamon spit a wad of cobwebs from her mouth. Guilmon ducked beneath it, then began furiously pounding her with his fists.   
"Incoming!!" Lee jumped out of the Poison Thread's path. But Takato, thumbing through his deck of cards, didn't! It was too late! The ball of webs impacted him and encased him in a cocoon! "Takato!" Lee was now, officially, worried. "Terriermon, tear through it!"   
"I can't!" the little Digimon replied, " Your option card just wore off and the casing is too thick!"   
----------------------------------   
"Sir, there are five different wild ones on the grid!" Tilley frantically tried to get a lock on them.   
"Wow, he's already got you trained. He's not even in the room." Riley called back. It was true! Wherever Yamaki had gone, he wasn't back yet. Tilley lifter her visor. "Maybe... he went for break."   
"I doubt it. Lunch break was over two hours ago!"   
----------------------------------   
"Alright class, simmer down!" Mrs. Usagi stomped back into her classroom.   
"Does she look weird to you?" one of the kids whispered to Kazu.   
"She always looks weird." he replied. He was about to tell his dueling friend the same, when he noticed something. "Dude, what's with the feather things?" Kenta was confused. "What feather things?"   
"In your hair. They look like the little feathers a bird has."   
"They're not feathers. Aijika threw spitwads at me this morning."   
"Oh." Kazu wasn't buying into it. _They sure look like feathers._

"What was that for?!" Demanded Rika spreeding her legs into a horse stance and her hands into half fists.   
Renamon mearly pointed behind her and Rika turned and stil bound by habbit felt for her D-Arc to only find it missing. 

He couldn't move. He couldn't see. He couldn't breath. Though he had no memories for reference, it still felt was like being trapped in a grotesque verion of the womb. He could hear voices on the outside. "Takato!" He heard Lee yell outside. He tried to move again but failed missrably. His mind began to panic. He didn't want to die.   


Lee's eyes filled with horror. "Takato! No good! Have to risk it! We got to delete her now or Takato will sufficate in there! Terriermon!   
**Digimodify**   
**Digivolotion:ACTIVATE!! "**

"This feels funny." Calamon said from his spot with Rika and Renamon as his mark began to glow. 

"Terriermon Digivolve to...   
Galgomon!"   
Lee silently prayed his partner could control himself this time. "You're bigger now! More of you to feast on!" Dokugamon hissed.   
"Bring it on!" Galgomon shot a few rounds at her, then had to leap away. Her Poison Thread ball would have trapped him if he hadn't. 

"His basic machinegun arm isn't that powerful. Its a barrage-type attack. Maybe if I use a power modify card.." Lee thought aloud. Just then he noticed that Takato's coccoon seemed to be shaking. Don't give up, Takato. Lee drew another card from his deck. "Yes!"   
**"DigiModify:**   
**Snimon's Twin Sickles: ACTIVATE!"**   
Galgomon's endless hail of gunfire stopped as his gatling arm was replaced by a long, insect-look scythe. "Free Guil... I mean, Takato!" How he let that one slip? Was he losing his humanity too? 

Guilmon pounced on the giant spider, lighting her on fire once more. "Prepare for pain!" she shrieked out. Her eyes blinked in an insane pattern. Then, almost like paratroopers, tiny Dokugamons rained down from the fog. Once they landed, they crawled all over Guilmon, biting and exploding all around him. Galgomon, with one concentrated slice, cut deep into the coccoon. But it was too thick! Just then, the swarm of mini Dokugamons surrounded him too. "Time for some bug repellent." He sliced them away with his newly bladed arms. One of them managed to latch onto his scythe, but he flung the pest high into the air. As it fell back to the ground, Galgomon impaled it and tossed it into the center of a large group of mini Dokugamons. It blew up, eradicating a few.   
"What will it take to stop these things!!?" Lee screamed. He grabbed a trash can and began batting the spiders away. "I... hate... bugs!" One of them slammed right into Takato's coccoon before exploding. The lining was getting thin. 

He heard the voices outside the coccon again. It was getting hard to hear what was going on. No! He didn't want to die! He didn't . .. want . . . to die . . .   
He felt his mucles begin to bluge and it became impossible to feel the difference between some of his fingers as their ends went numb and his sense of touch incressed as a mass broke though the back of his brown shorts. He screamed/snarled as he torn though the confining mattieral. 

*que Evangeilion music when Shinji distoryed the shadow Angel that shallowed up Tokeyo-3* 

"RrraaaaaaAAAARGH!!" a deep roar came from within the coccoon. Just then, the webbing tore away, revealing a large (and very much enraged) Guilmon. It was wearing the tattered remains of Takato's clothes! "Oh no," Lee gasped, "He's finished the transformation!" 

Flames, comments, good or bad reviews, suggestions, reactions, occasional constructive criticism all welcome. Spelling corrections also welcome as long as you tell what you think of the story itself too. 

If you hate a review I gave, e-mail me. 


	3. Completion

waitng on a pre-reader will post this now. And if he delivers I'll replace it with his version. Think of this as your chance to get in your input. 

This was written by both me AND Aaron Max and the latest name of our now defunted third writer is Zentillion Metalla, I think our writting styles are different enough that you can tell us all apart easily.   
  


"RRRAAAHHRRR!!!" The thing that had been Takato roared, his eyes in narrow slit mode... 

"Takato?" Lee asked. There was no responce. 

"ANOTHER ONE?!" Dokugamon yelped "Oh well, the more the merrier!" 

"PYRO SPHERE!" Takatomon yelled, firing a big burst into the bug's face. 

"AGH!" she shrieked, and that hit was just strong enough to make her explode into data! 

"What was that about?" Said Rika having seen the glow on Calamon's head forgetting her digivice for a moment narrowing her violet eyes.   
"I don't know . . . I just get this feeling some times that I have to give something."   
"What?" Said Rika then remember the more pushing question. "Where's my D-Arc?"   
"What? You mean your flashing thing? You dropped it while you were running, I tried to tell you but you didn't hear me."   
Rika made a fustrated sigh, she look over where they had come, they have covered blocks, she knew there was no way she could find her digivice in time. She made a dash for the digital field a block away, Renamon in close persuit. Calamon blinked from his spot on the roof being left behind. He opening his 'ears' full way and began hoping after them. 

Lee saw with distant fascenation that the two Guilmons were not the same size, Takato was oblviously the larger one, taller by a head at least, (the main reason his cloths were so trashed, the couldn't even fit him anymore) Lee guessed that made sense, after all, Takato WAS Guilmon's parent in a warpped sense of the word. Lee knew he had gotten shorter. He wondered how long he had left. He didn't know if Rika was still human or not but Takato had been farther along than the rest of them. Except for being slightly more squated, Lee's human shape was still intact, the change was taking more longer with him than with Takato, he hoped he last long enought to help Takato, and if nessary Rika. Lee realized Takato was quite a full digimon yet inspit of his apperence, there were still tell tale sign of his humaning, the shape of his chest, no Pattamon ears yet, his had five claws instead of three, and his teeth were still a human's if much larger, but he digressed, it was oblvious that Takato's form was a ghost now.   
Lee gasped as Guilmon AND Takato (or was it Takatomon now?) begain to take in Dokugamon's data sharing it like a meal. Lee finnaly saw the look in Takato's eyes, there was no cringing or shock in them, for Takato, asorbing the digimon's data was as normal as breathing.   
As the digital field dissolved the larger Guilmon turned to face him, Takato eyes were filled with concenration.   
"Lee . . . mon?" Takato whisped, then fell on his side and curled into a feral position, Lee though he had collasped but his breathing was steady and even, he was asleep. Lee looked from side to side as their cover began to decentagrate.   
"Worse time for a nap Takato."   
"Takatomon?" Guilmon said nugging him with his muzzel as fire aura vanished and his colors returned to normal. 

"Guilmon, help me carry him out. Hurry, before the fog lifts!" Lee frantically tried to pick his friend up. The fact that Lopmon were so small and relatively weak was no help either!   
"Okay." the real Guilmon clambered over and, after a bit of struggle, lifted Takato. Just then, Lee had an idea. He jogged back to where Takato was held prisoner. "Ah ha!" He pulled something from the dirt. Incredibly, the remains of the digi web hadn't dessovled. He threw it over the sleeping dinosaur morph. "Ok, let's go!" Lee and Guilmon carried the covered body, one end each, away just in time. The barrier had just dissipated. "Let's just hope no one thinks we killed someone are trying to get rid of the body."   
"Wow, you really ARE becoming like me. You grew a sense of humor." Galgomon marveled.   
"Oh shut up," his Tamer playfully responded, "And try not to act suspicious. Galgomon, stay here and try to run yourself out of energy. The public might believe a dinosaur costume, but who not a... whate ever you are costume." Galgomon sighed and walked off grumbling. They were starting to get looks from everyone they passed. Must walk faster, must walk faster. 

"Do you see it?" Rika called to Renamon from across the block. They both leapt from one ledge to another, glancing here and there. No sign of Rika's Digivice. "No." Renamon hollered back. They had dispatched Calumon to help them look for it, but they both secretly hoped he would get distracted by some shiney object and leave them alone. 

Lee felt Takato begin to get heavier. Oh great. Was he getting larger or was Lee getting smaller? He looked behind himself and saw Calamon sitting on the covered Takato enjoying the free ride. Lee sighed, he just hoped they got somewhere safe before someone called the police, or the zoo (it wasn't going to take more than a close look to know Guilmon wasn't wearing a costume). 

Takatomon dreamed.   
Human, memories, mannerisims and perceptions began to dissolve like sand castles in the water. No! He didn't want to forget! Momon and dadmon. He wasn't digimon. He was humon. They no know he Takatomon like this. There was so much he hadn't done. Show Jerimon Guilmon feirce not cute. And .. . and . .   
He . . . he hadn't finnished designing and drawing all of Guilmon's evelotions yet (and also he needed to design his preforms incase he ever got recognfigured), plus he now decided he really didn't like those spikes he drew on his back in his drawing in class now that he thought about it. They just didn't fit with his strips.   
Takatomon held onto this part of his humon self for all he was worth. 

"Arrgh! Hey!" Lee shouted. Takato had just stirred. They were getting more looks. One old lady even pulled out a cell phone and dialed someone. He could only hope it wasn't the cops. "Hide!" Lee stashed Calumon under the cloak so they wouldn't attract more attention. "Hey!" Calumon resisted.   
"Calumon?" Guilmon cocked his head, dropping his Tamer.   
"Guilmon," Lee whined, "Focus! Once we get back to your lair you can play with him." 

Yamaki stepped into the dome room. Tilley was the only one who acknowledged him. "Sir! Glad to have you back. A wild one appeared..." At that sound, Yamaki's mind began wandering. He had a thought of just going out and killing the monsters himself.   
"...already been eradicated." That brought him back to reality. "Keep an eye on it." Riley let out a long sigh. "Was he even listening?"   
"I don't know." Tilley replied and lifted her visor. Where are all these weird feathers coming from? She pulled a few small red feathers from her arm. Maybe it was some kind of joke. Maybe Riley was glueing them on without her noticing. 

"Finally!" Lee dropped Takato on the cement floor of Guilmon's hideaway. They had ran those last few yards. Guilmon let go of his Tamer and ran off to play tag with Calumon. A terrifying thought crossed Lee's mind. How are we going to reverse this? Even our Digivices are having trouble recognizing us. He'd worry about it later. Off in the distance, he heard some police sirens. Hopefully they weren't out for him. Better safe than sorry. "Guilmon! Calumon! Get in here, now!!" The Digimon groaned, but did as they were told. "You're meaner than Rika." Calumon mumbled. "Rika...?" Lee questioned, "You saw Rika!? What did she look like?"   
"Well," the little In-Training Digimon began, "She looked like a little Renamon."   
Lee cringed. "We should wait here. Eventually, she'll come to us." 

"You so sure?" Said Terriermon. "She and Renamon might just start prowling for digimon."   
"You may not of heard Rika when we were at her house last night." Had it really only been that long? "She yelled 'A digimon can't be a Tamer' she'll come to us hopeing that just maybe we know more than her and might of figured out a cure."   
"You think her ego would really allow that?"   
"Even her ego won't stop her on something like this. She lives to be a Tamer, it's the most important thing in her life."   
"Kinda sad isn't it?"   
"What's that sopposed to mean?"   
"Oh nothing . . . "   
Lee looked at his hands. He wished he had a mirror so at least he could watch the show as terrible as it was. If Calumon was right, Rika and Takato had both gone changed to the point beyound recognition in less than 24 hours since their talk at her place. Did he have hours or days? There was no way to tell.   
Lee took the cloak off Takato and took a look at him. As soon as they had set him down he had curled up again, must of been his natural sleeping posture now. No further changes. But then again it hadn't been that long. Maybe the change was done or it slowed in it's home streach. Lee had no way to know. Any way.   
He couldn't go home now. He had now offically skipped school, his record was tarnished, not that that exactly mattered anymore . . . . Lee felt the pull in the bottum of his stomach and remebered he had missed lunch. Well, not exaclty much he could do about it now. There was nothing to do now but wait. 

From the distance, Lee could hear the sirens getting further away. He didn't know the police cars were over a mile from the park. His new ears just made it sound so much closer. Good. He waited. Guilmon was playing with Takato's face, making Calumon laugh out loud. The sky outside began turning orange. Lee noticed this. "What time is it? By now, my dad has probably put up a missing persons bulletin." 

"I dunno. Maybe he's at the park, working on that flashlight thing he scared us with."   
"I wasn't scared." Kenta timidly tried to defend his honor.   
"You were terrified. Admit!"   
They argued some more, finally reaching a conclusion of "Let's just drop it."   
"Well," Kazu had a certain disappointment in his tone, "I better go. Laters." He slammed the reciever back on the phone. "Where could that dude have run off to?" He wouldn't deny he was worried about Takato. He had borrowed one of his best cards! Kazu scratched his arm. It was really itchy, and mosquitos aren't out in November! He noticed he seemed to have some sort of rash now. "Hope its not some strand of mad Takato disease." 

Jeri was worried, what had happened to Takato? Where those really Kitesumes she saw with that white thing that scared her to peices a couple weeks back? Jeri just having started in digimon didn't know every card of digimon was excussable for not recognizing Renamon. 

"Can't he come home on time just once . . . ?" Said Takato's mother worried about her, it wasn't like this was the first time he had been late, but after being sick, worrying didn't slove anything. Her son was alright and would come home, he had to. 

"Why does Takatomon look different?" Asked Guilmon thinking that Lee was sure to have an answer. 

Lee took a moment to think up an answer. "Well, we're not quite sure yet. But don't worry: We'll make it through." Guilmon sighed. They were all getting bored. Calumon was bouncing around, trying to keep himself entertained. 

"I guess we're late." Rika told Renamon. They stood on the balcony above what was recently a battleground. "Yes. There was a battle and we seemed to have missed out. Hmm. Look, Rika. Down there."   
"What?"   
"Footprints. They look like Guilmon's."   
"Why are there two sets?" Rika noticed the second set ended abruptly. From then on, they were shoe markings.   
"The others were here." She and Renamon exchanged looks. Finally, Rika spoke out, "Digivices may be able to track each other. If one of the other Tamers puts it into map mode, we can lock on to its signal." They decided to check the lair once more before heading home. Home, she thought, Should I go back? No. Grandma would probably attack me with a sealing paper or something. 

Suzie was getting worried. She laid quitely on her bed, hugging her teddy bear. It was no replacement for Terriermon. Mr. Wong opened the door to her room. "Dinner is ready."   
"I'm not hungry." She sunk her head deeply into her pillow, hoping her dad wouldn't notice.   
"Are you feeling ok, Suzie? Why so quite?"   
"No reason."   
Her dad was baffled. Wasn't this girl always up and about, playing with her toys? He closed the door and left her to her things. Suzie crawled out of bed and looked at her reflection in the window.   
Are my ears really getting longer? She was really worried now. 

But where could she go then? Rika didn't have an answer. She thought about how much she hated the idea of being anything like her mother well, they certainly weren't much alike now. 

Rika momentary wondered where Calumon went, not that she felt like complaining about it.   
Renamon was seriously worried. 'We are better at camoflog than any camealeon', we, not you, not kitesumes, we, she felt a part of her mocking her again, saying didn't some part of her want Rika to be this way? Renamon forced away a shudder. Not like this. She told herself. She didn't want the Rika she knew to be lost in the process.   
"Of course, my Tamer." Okay, cheesy, but she was hoping the termanology would snap Rika out of this tread away from her human self. 

"Sir, we just aren't getting anything accomplished here." Riley shouted down to Yamaki. "You know, you aren't officially working on this project anymore. After FinalAnswer's successful trial run, you two weren't needed anymore. Why are you still here, anyways?"   
Because of the betting pool. Tilley thought to herself. But deep down, she knew she really liked working here. It was so mysterious, so hi-tech. She couldn't just up and leave. Neither of the girls said anything. "What are these things?" she was thinking out loud again. Her arms were covered in little red feathers. She could feel them poking the sleeves of her shirt. I can feel them? she thought, How can I feel them? The double chair swiveled around. Is it hot in here? Riley tugged on the collar of her uniform. It felt like someone had locked her in a furnace! 

"So bored..." Calumon was laying on Takato's unconscious body, trying to keep himself from dying of boredom.   
"No one asked you to stay. The police left a long time ago." Lee was tired of the little creature. At one point, he was so bored, he actually talked to him! Calumon cheered and bounded off into the park. The sun was already setting! "Hrrrrmmmm..." a voice! Lee shot to his feet. Takato was waking up! Guilmon noticed to. he got up and started sniffing his partner. "Guilmon..." Takato grumbled. He sat up, rubbed his eyes, and looked around. "How long was I asleep?" They didn't know. At some point, Lee's wrists were so small that his watch must have slipped off. They didn't even attempt to look for it. "So how are you feeling? Still remember being human?"   
"Humon?" something clicked in Takato's head. He knew he had heard it before, but where? Wait. Was I always a Digimon? He tried to remember his parents. An image of a large male and female Guilmon materialized in his head. Were they his mom and dad? He knew they were, but they didn't seem right, either.   
"Finally found you." Renamon had suddenly appeared at the gate. She pulled it open and stepped in.   
"So where's Rika?" Lee began.   
"See for yourself." a voice came from the shadows.   
At that moment, shifted out of shadow form.   
"Oh no! You've finished changing too. That means I'm the only one left!" Lee shivered.   
"You've already shrunk down considerably. Not to mention your face and ears resemble a brown Terriermon." Rika observed.   
"I... I'm not turning into... I'm becoming a Lopmon. I think. I have three little horns while Terriermon only has one." 

"Whatever . . . So anything of Goggle Boy still in there?" Asked the kitesume child. Well, Lee thought, at least part of her was still her. She was smaller than Renamon, though her eyes had changed shape like Takato's, her eyes were the same violet as when she had been human.   
I'll know you by your eyes. A story Lee had read on-line once, it involed a scientist discovering a metorite in Anartica (amazingly it was written before the real one had been discovered) and discovered a blue algee in it.   
He took it his lab back home and had it analized, just one thing happened, there was crack in the containment, the algee got out, and in a matter of day, the entire human race was a bunch of strange three foot feathered riptials who couldn't add two and two, the scientist had been sealed in his own lab, and when he came out, he found his wife at home changed, he recognized her by her eyes. At least whatever this was wasn't going to ever spreed beyound the three of them, Lee thought.   
Lee shallowed and blushed when his brain clicked Rika wasn't wearing anything, it looked like she was holding her modify cards in one hand . . . where was her D-Arc? Still seeing Rika naked no matter what her form made Lee uncomfortable guess mentally he wasn't that far gone. He was a little concerned how well Rika was taking this, he looked at Renamon, he saw concern in her eyes too.   
"I'm still Takatomon!" said the larger red reptial in rags in a slight snarl.   
"I rest my case, you were always simple minded before, now your body just fits the rest of you." Commented the gloveless Renamon. Now Takato DID snarl and took a step foreward, Rika lost her cool for a nano second and took a step back in turn.   
"Watch it, you won't be resurrected if Takato obsorbs your data." commented Lee. "He's done it to one digimon already." Rika's voice like his was still the same. Lee noted that while during the 'dino-boy's' rest, the finner details of Takato's change had taken place, pattmon ears, snarl teeth, three claws. Rika blinked at this, she . . . she hadn't thought about it, that it was possible, if Takato could it, did that mean she could it as well? Rika started to go into a fight stance. "Viris are strong against Data types, don't do something stupid." Lee warned. How much had he changed? He didn't have a mirror. But he knew he was shorter than Rika now, and she had barely incressed in hight.   
Guilmon looked at the two Renamons, then at Takatomon, then Terriermon and Lee . . . the Tamers didn't look OR smell right, but it was them, Guilmon moaned in fustration and confusion.   
Takatomon then remembered what he had been so concentrated on before waking up (concentrated when he was asleep? Was that right?) he started to walk pass Rikamon not at all shocked or confused or nervious about her apperence or lack of atire, as if she had always been that way his rags still covering some slight parts of him he continued his way past her.   
"Where are you going?" Said Terriermon confused.   
"My . .. . drawings at Momon and Dadmon's . . . they . . . I need to finnish Guilmon."   
"He looks finnished to me." Said Rika condecending.   
"His other forms arn't finnished! Besides, the spines I had on his back in my last drawning of his champion form just didn't work." Takato defended. Lee noted with much intrested that Takato's grammer skills incressed dramaticly when he had started talking about his designing of Guilmon's evelotions. 

"That's it!" Lee exclaimed.   
"What's it?" Rika gave him a puzzled expression.   
"Maybe we can turn back into humons... humans."   
"Who said I want to be human again?" Rika coldheartedly said. Renamon felt a stab of pain upon hearing this. It was like an arrow through her heart. Wasn't this what she had always wanted? Why did she feel like this every time she thought of Rika as a Digimon? Was it instinct. She hid her internal conflicts. "How?"   
"We each seem to have a piece of our old selves locked away somewhere inside of us." Lee was speaking with utter confidence, "Like Takato. As a human, his drawings were more important than almost anything. Maybe if we're around this sort of thing... maybe we can reverse the change."   
"I don't have anything that I hold dear." Rika said. Was she always this cold, or was it something being a Renamon had done to her.   
"How about Renamon?"   
The idea struck the both of them. Neither Rika nor her partner could think of anything to rebut it. 

Jeri walked carefully through the streets. It was dangerous to be out at this time. Maybe Takato went to the park to play with Guilmon. she conforted herself. She stepped off the pavement of the sidewalk and onto the grassy park. Jeri hadn't taken more than a few steps when she saw something glistening. It caught her eye. She approached the sparkling object to find... "What is this?" she bend down to pick up a beat up-looking little gizmo. A Digivice! Didn't Takato and the others have something like it? It was damaged, obviously from taking a fall. She stuffed it in her pocket and continued on. 

"We go to Takato's house first. We can get in through the balcony." Lee was explaining things like a general would explain a mission. His friends and their Digimon all nodded in agreement. "Did I miss anything?" Terriermon hovered into the gate. "Ouch!" Lee chuckled and opened the door. "Ok, troops. Let's head out!" Renamon peeked out of the shrine, to make sure no one was close by. Then she ducked into the bushes. Everyone followed her lead. Lee began explainig things to his partner. They all crawled behind the shrubbery, hoping it would conceal them all through the park. And all the while not noticing as Jeri skipped by on the other side. 

The early December weather was viciously biting at her skin as she opened the cold gates. She felt like her skin was burning with the cold as she called out Guilmon and Takato's name several times. She didn't get a responce.... What was she doing? Her dad was going to be so mad at her when she got back, there was nothing she could for Takato if she was locked in her room for a month. Maybe he was out hunting digimon which meant she would only get in the way. 

For Rika and Renamon, hiding was easily, for one midget, one rabbit dog hybred, and two gaint red lizards (and who looked like he was the dino equivent of the wolf man) it was much much harder. 

Jeri was somewhat disappointed. She about-faced and marched home. Then she remembered the little gadget she had found in the park._ I think its a game or something. Takato has one just like it. But it was all beaten up. _Either it fell from a high place or got hit by a bus. But it was repairable. She just had to get home. And fast! The sun was already almost completely set. Just then something caugh her eye. A red spike seemed to be lurching along behind the bush. "Takato?" she approached carefully. "We've been spotted!" a voice whispered from behind it. Suddenly, the two kitsunes, along with two Guilmons and a pair of dog-things burst out of the shrubs and ran down the road. "Wait!" Jeri called. No use. They were too far ahead to catch up. _Was that them?___

_Jeri thought for a moment, didn't one of those Guilmon have rags on it like Takato's shirt and shorts? . . . Jeri gasped. No, that just couldn't happen, it just couldn't, it was impossible, right . . . just like Digimon were sopposed to be impossible. Jeri was scared, from what she didn't know, but she ran with ragged breaths the rest of the way home._

"I just hope we didn't get notced by anyone." Said Lee fifteen minutes later when they were at Tatako's house. To keep Takato's mind on task, Lee had asked him about every possible detail of Guilmon.   
"Sure, two walking foxies, two talking dogs, and a pair of dinosaurs is bound not to attrach ANY attention." Commented Terriermon.   
"Shut up!" Everyone said at once.   
"Okay just trying to lighten the mood."   
"Don't!" Said Rika. "I don't see why we had to come along this has nothing to do with us."   
"Do you want to a fox the rest of your life?" Asked Lee.   
Rika didn't answer. "Weren't you the one telling a digimon couldn't a Tamer?"   
Rika started. "Th-that's the reason I came looking for you, I lost my digivice why search for Takato and . . . I figured I could use one of yours to help find it."   
"First things first." Said Lee. 

"Before I left, I saw some rope next to a trash can. be right back." Takato said to Lee. He ran behind the house and emerged a few minutes later with a long, somewhat beaten-up rope. He threw it like a lasso up to the fire exit, but it fell back down and the knot at the end tapped him on the head. "Ow!"   
"Give me that!" Terriermon grabbed the rope and spread his ears. It took a few seconds before the breeze finally picked him up. He hovered up, testing the winds to make sure they could hold him, then landed softly in front of Takato's sliding door. Terriermon tied the string to one of the bars and glided down. "Good work, Terriermon." Lee caught him. Takato grabbed hold of it and started climbing up. His claws! They wouldn't let him get a hold of it without slipping. "Guilmon hands aren't meant for climbing ropes!"   
"Hold on." Renamon leapt up, flipped around as gracefully as only she could, and landed perfectely on the railing. She pulled on the rope and hoisted him up. "Thanks." Takato smiled. he slid his door open and glanced around. The floor was creaking from his weight. He was so much heavier now! "There!" he snatched up the little stack of drawings he kept in his dresser drawer. "Who's there!?" Someone's voice! Takato's head spun around in time to see someone open the door and shine a flashlight right on him. His mom! 

Renamon took the moment of shock to hide. The woman took one look at the gaint red dinosaur in her son's room it looked at her uncertainly afraid. Afraid? Her heart was trying to break though her ripe cage, her knees went weak. Her eyes glued to the fearsome beast in front of her, it continued to look at her with a pair of slitted blue eyes. It took a step foreward.   
"Momon?" It said in a high pitched voice haltingly as if it wasn't sure if it was right or not. It sniffed her trying to match her sent. It couldn't seem to decide what she was. She noticed it was covered in rages, blue and brown ones, and around it's neck was a pair of goggles. That was it. She dropped her flash light, and screamed running down the stairs.   
It was like a strike on the face for Takato, he just sat down where he was, she didn't know him, of course she didn't know him, what was there of him to recognize? He had had trouble knowing it was her at first too. His altired memories, (he was sure they were changing now thought he knew if they were changing he shouldn't of been able to notice) interfering with his unaffected ones. Her mother had smelled quite right, or quite wrong, his head hurt almost as much as his heart. He looked at his collection of drawings in his claws, he had some pens and a binder in with them.   
"Takato we have to get out here . . . Takato? Takato!" Renamon cursed as she took visible form, now was not the time for the boy to have a break down, but the dinosaur started crying right there, it was bizzare to see a power creature like guilmon crying, but he was doing it all the same.   
Tears coming down his snout he looked at the fox kitesume a look of defeat and pain in his eyes.   
"My name is Takatomon . . ." He said sadly, Renamon knew it was NO effect of his digimon side that had caused that statment. 

"Jeri? Jeri!" The girl ignored her father slamming the door to her room and landing on her bed crying into her pillow. 

_Am I going crazy or something? I'm seeing things._   
"Would you like to talk?" Jeri's dad entered the room. She picked her head off her pillow.   
"No."   
"Why not."   
Jeri was stranded. She knew her dad wouldn't leave until he had an answer. But she couldn't tell him she was seeing weird, anthropomorphic creatures running around. He'd send her to a shrink. Or worse. "No dad. I'm fine. How was your day?" She turned the subject around. It was almost taboo in Jeri's household to ask the dad how his day was. He could (and probably will) drone on for hours. 

"A-a... ACHOO!" Riley sneezed so hard, her visor came off. It clinked to the floor far beneath them. "What's wrong?" Tilley tried to sound concerned.   
"My allergies.." Riley sniffled.   
"What are you alergic to?"   
"Bee stings, maple, and feathers."   
Feathers! Tilley looked over her arms. She could see her long shirt sleeves distorted from all the down that had been growing on her. Growing? She came back down to earth when she felt the double chair moving. It was close enough. Riley hopped off and picked up her visor. She pulled a tissue from her pocket, blew her nose, then asked, "Where's Yamaki?"   
"You'd think he would be here when something like this is happening."   
Riley sneezed again.   
"Bless you." 

He couldn't. It just wasn't possible. Yamaki pulled off his shades and saw his eyes were totally red. Almost like they had some kind of crimson film over them. And his nails were much longer. "Am I going mad!?" he sat down on the counter of the mens restroom. Someone walked in. "Yamaki! Just the man I was looking for! Now listen, that new grant.." Yamaki hated Tom. He was the most boring person in the building. He wished so much that Tom would just...   
"SHUT UP!" Yamaki glared at him, his eyes piercing into those of his coworker. At once, Tom was silient. He also looked to be halfway asleep. Yamaki rapped on the bald man's head. He didn't even react! "Hope I didn't send him into shock." Yamaki sidestepped him and walked out. No, he just didn't have the heart to leave a man like that without at least saying sorry. He pushed the door open again and apologized, "Look. I'm sorry. I've been under a lot of stress recently and I... are you even listening?" Tom hadn't moved. Not an inch. Had he been paralyzed? Or put in a trance. Either way, Yamaki was fed up. He pounded the door open and went back to work. 

Jeri was granted the small mercy of falling asleep half way though her dad's lecture with an empty stomach and a heavey heart she entered a dreamless sleep.__

_Stupid boy! This isn't the time to feel sorry for yourself! _Mentally spate Renamon she could hear the woman ranting down staires. This was not good. The fox kitesume took hold of the boy with a grunt, (ugh! he was heavey) and climbed out the window ceil and leaped back down to her companions.   
"What happned up there?" Asked Lee.   
"Nothing good." Said Renamon when Takato only sobed. 

"Stop crying Takato! You'll ruin your drawings." Lee took them from Takato's claws and wiped them off, smudging a drawing of Dasunemon's body. "Now what, genius." Rika shot. Now that they had them, how were they supposed to use them? Lee tried to think of a way.   
"She didn't even recognize me." Takato sobbed. Guilmon stepped up and tried to comfort him.   
"I don't think some stupid drawings will cure him." Rika venomously said. Takato's growled at her.   
"I think our Digivices are the key. Let's just find mine and we can figure something out."   
Lee didn't want to agree, but it was dark and, if they couldn't go home, they had to find somewhere to sleep. Guilmon's lair wouldn't hold them all. "I guess." Lee sounded depressed. _Anything so she isn't bothering us._ A light! The light in front of the house flickered on. "Run!!!" Every Digimon and Digimorph scattered off in different directons. They heard a few gunshots, but knew they were light-years off target.   


"Well, its time to go home." Tilley gleefully grabbed her coat and headed over to the elevator. Riley was a bit slower, sneezing up a storm. The doors slid open, revealing Yamaki standing defiantly in their way. "Where are you going?"   
"It th' en' of th' wukday, suh." Riley sniffled. He sighed and moved out of their way. For some reason, he felt really charged. Maybe it was because it was nighttime. The two girls took the elevator to the dressing room to change into their street clothes. _Wait!_ the thought burst into Tilley's mind, _I can't change my clothes in there! Riley will see me with feathers!_   
"I'm really tired. I'll change at home."   
"Go 'head. See you tumorrow."   
The door slid open and Riley stepped out.   
_Whew, that was close._

After a minute of running Lee finnaly stopped to catch his breath.   
"So where do we go now? Head back to Guilmon's place or go home?" Asked his partner.   
"Well, if we go back and I finnish changing, Suzie is going to be using us both for Princess Pretty Pants."   
"You know missery does like company."   
"Shut up." Lee looked in his hands. "We need to find Takato . . . I didn't get a chance to give his drawings back."   
"Nice to see you have your priorities straight."   
"When did you learn sarcasim?"   
"Picked it up from Rika."   
_______   
Rika and Renamon hadn't gone far, both were on top of the bakery, looking down on the humans below.   
"Should of known his plan wouldn't of work." Muttered Rika. "It was stupid to begin with and utterly crazy."   
"Some times it is the insane decisions that are the right ones." Muttered Renamon. "But not often." Renamon looked at the young kitesume. "Rika you should head home. Your family must be worried sick about you by now."   
"Go back!" Snapped Rika. She stood up her arms apart. "Like this? Besides, I doubt mom's even noticed I'm gone."   
________   
"I just know something horrible's happned to her!"   
"Dear calm down!" The old woman pleaded. "She's been out late before."   
"Without even coming home after school?!"   
"Panic isn't going to make her come home faster."   
"But . . . I was just making plans for her to have a photo shot. I know she would of liked it if she had just tried it."   
Rika's grandmother sighed.   
________   
"They love you, they'll know you."   
"Like Takato's mother knew him?"   
" . . . . You don't know unless you."   
"Now you sound like baka Takatomon."   
"Rika . . . you just said Takatomon."   
"So? That's goggle face's name isn't it?"   
_________   
"Takatomon? I'm sorry." Said the Digimon from the ally they had stopped in. "That your Momon didn't know it was you . . ."   
Takatomon took one looked at his offspring, and hugged him fericly being carful not to stab him with his claws. "Thank you . . . For caring Guilmon." 

"Air..." Guilmon gasped.   
"Oh, right." Takato realized his bear hug was choking Guilmon. "Sorry about that." He scrathed his head and looked up to the stars. An glassy tear formed on his eye.   
"What's wrong, Takatomon?"   
"Oh, nothing." he wiped it off, "Guilmon? Can I... sleep at your place tonight?"   
"Yay! My first sleepover!" Guilmon seemed excited. Right in the middle of his dance, he stopped. "Renamon is coming" He declared.   
"Close, but I'm Rikam... Rika." She appeared from the shadows of the alley.   
"You've gotten good at that, Rika." Renamon called softly from atop the building. "We decided to go back to Rika's house. There's an attic where we can sleep in there."   
"Think your mom and grandma..."   
"They won't know we're there." Rika stopped him. "Come on, Renamon." She leapt up onto the rooftop and challenged her partner to another race. 

They waited there for Lee and Terriermon. In the meantime, they laid there counting the stars and making funny constellations. "Hey! They're over here!"   
"Don't wake up the whole neighborhood!" Lee and his partner had found them! "Great to see you!" Takato got to his feet.   
"Yeah. But where are we supposed to sleep tonight?" Lee gave Takato a look that just begged to know if these two could hang out with them.   
"Ok," Takato finally mumbled, "But its going to be kind of crowded at Guilmon's hideout."   
"Guilmon's hideout. Great idea!" Terriermon cheered. 

_It's funny. _Rika thought. _I feel like a stranger coming here. But this is my home. I was born here. Okay, it was hospital down town but I've spent the majority of my life here. Why should it feel weird being here now? _She looked at her fur covered body._ Oh yea. I'm a whipser on the wind. I'm a shadow on the wall. I'm a half seen shape in the corner of a human's eye. I am an Kitesume. Okay, a digimon one, but I don't think there's that much a difference._   
_She leaped from the wall to the tree top in her family's garden._   
Renamon is right behind her, Rika had really been just having fun so their race had ended in a tie. Rika doesn't think it at all strange to lose a competition just for the sake of enjoying it.   
_Are you still in there my Rika? I mean, are you there really? I wish this hadn't happened to you. And we still have no idea HOW it's happened. Could this just be the next stage in a tamer's evelotion? No, there are other tamers in the world and something like this has never happened._

Rika's grandmother turned around swiftly, she had heard something. What she didn't have a clue. All she knew was that she felt a sense of longing and regret. Maybe it was the spirit she had suspected that was watching over Rika recently (that girl would of never lasted this long in life without someone looking out for her) and it took regretted having lost track of her, it had the old woman's pity. 

"Didn't we just discuss how it was too crowed there?" Lee moaned.   
"Momentai Lee. Without the fox twins it just might be roomy enough." Replied the digimon.   
"Fine. Still, I need to find a chance to contact my family, I can't hide from them forever! Even if they call the dog catcher after seeing me."   
"In the morning, I'm sleeply."   
After everything you've just been though Takato I don't blame you.   


Takato's mother finnish emptying her dinner into the tiolet.   
Had she caught her son's flue? She didn't know how right she was. Her son? Those goggles that thing had.__

_Mom,if I come home and you don't recognize me, know that it's still me._

The woman ran outside. "Takato!" She shouted into the empty night streets. 

All she could hear was her own desperate echo. "Dear God," she gasped.   
"What's wrong, dear?" Takato's father came outside to talk to her.   
"That... thing! I think it was Takato!" she blurted.   
"What? You know, you're sick. You need some rest. There must be a bug going around or something."   
"But... he told me! I know it was him!"   
"Honey," he began, "Takato isn't a dinosaur." 

Tilley slammed her apartment door open and tossed the gym bag containing her uniform on the bed. She hurried into her bathroom and flipped the light switch. "So many feathers!" And they were longer now! I could probably pass for Big Bird right now. She thought. Now Tilley was convinced that this was no joke. Somehow, she really was growing red-tipped feathers. "No." She began crying and yanking them, pulling off as many feathers as she could. Amidst all the feathers, blood, and tears, she noticed her srceams. They were loud! The water glass she had left from this morning was vibrating. It looked like it was even about to shatter! I don't care! she screamed even louder, making sure the glass broke in pieces. The doorbell rang. "I must have attracted some attention. Well, who wouldn't notice a commotion like that." Tilley headed for the door, swinging it wide open. "Whaddya want! Oh my! Riley!" She couldn't believe her own eyes. Her co-worker was a blazing inferno! Her whole body was lit on fire! "I don't know what's happening! It doesn't hurt, but I feel... please help me!" 

The group had finally reached the park. Again. "You know, maybe becoming a Lopmon won't be so bad. I won't have to walk all the way over here. I can just fly!" Lee caught himself saying that. "I'm starting to change on the inside too!"   
"Its not a bad thing." Takato replied. Both he and Guilmon curled up in the back end of the shrine, using each other's tails as pillows. Terriermon had fallen asleep on the way home. Lee sighed and gently put his partner next to the sleeping lizards. Then he, too, laid down beside them. It wasn't so crowded after all! 

"He . . ." What could she say? What was there to say? "That thing had his goggles around it's neck." A thought hit her, his drawings! She ran up to his room ignoring her husband's calls lookinng for the pictures her son drew. She found them, and gasp, she didn't know what it meant, but the drawings were identical to the things she had seen. 

Rika curled up (her natural sleeping posture now) in the attic in her family's house Renamon watching her solumly as she close her violet within black eyes. When she was like this, Renamon could almost pretend that Rika really was the daughter she had lost all those years ago, almost, she loved Rika as a daughter, but she didn't want her to replace her kite, then she would cease to be Rika. Still sitting up and remaing on edge even after her eyes closed Renamon joined her in sleep. 

Tilley helped her friend into her apartment. She was amazed! Riley was on fire, but her clothes were totally uneffected! her flames didn't even burn the carpet. "Maybe its spontaneous human combustion."   
"DON' SAY THAT! I don't wanna die!"   
Tilley helped her into her bathroom and filled the tub with cold water. "Maybe this will help."   
"No way!" Riley screamed. She stepped back a few paces. She used to love swimming, but now she was terrified of water! "Why me! Oh why of all people... achoo!"   
The feathers! They were scattered along the floor and trash basket! _Maybe I should tell her..._ Tilley began in a meek tone, "Well, if it helps... something weird has been happening to me, too. See, I've been growing feathers. And..." Riley was looking at her like a cat looks at a mouse. "Why are you... aarrgh!" She pounced on Tilley! Reacting fast, she caught Riley in mid-air and heaved her into the water. 

hats off to Evagileon for the statments with Rika 

_Hadn't his parents been two Guilmon like him before? Now his mental image was of two blue scales creatures, one was a t-rex shape like himself, the other was more humanoid (that she walked upright instead in a perminant croutch) His memories must of been still messed up. They were still reptials types of course, but the hazard marked viris was confused where his attrabute came from since neither of them were Viris'._   
_But he nuzzeled them just the same and they returned his affection. Yes. These were his parnets. He didn't understand why he thought so otherwise._   
__   
__ __

_Heh. Her mother had never mastered shape shifting beyoud the most rudamentary skills. She couldn't wait to see her face when she showed her she could assume human form. (a trick a many a kitesume would die for) Staying unoticed as a a breeze on the wind she saw a human girl walking on the deserted street, he was only ten, but her expression and mood were of someone twice her age, how sad. Everything about her screamed. "I don't want to be alone." and "I hate everybody." The way she moved. The way she dressed. Even her rate of breathing seemed to imply this. Her kind were always good at picking up tiny hints that no human would ever catch._   
_Memorizing her image she jumped into the gardan that the wall she had been standing on enclosed. Looking over one of the pools she smiled as she shifted her shape into the girl she had just seen and blinked. She hadn't been able to morph her cloths. Oh well, even without her furr she didn't understand the human need to hide themselves. The girl's hair had been tied in back, her's was loose, something about that loose hair repudgnated her, as if it was reminder of something she didn't very much care for._   
_She heard an old woman voice's gasp. She looked up and instantly assumed shadow form before a moment had passed leaving the human confused on what had just occured._   
__

Lee look at the sleeping Takato (still in his rags) and thought of Rika. How much of them was left? Lee look at himself. He was still much taller than Terriermon.   
"Take my body if you want it!" He hissed under his breath. "But your not getting my mind. Do you hear me whatever you are? You aren't attaching a 'mon' at the end of my name any time soon! I PROMISE you." Lee closed his eyes, with the full intention of still being Lee when he opened them. 

_What is that? He gazed into the black, formless entity that stood before him. It was becoming clearer. What is it!? The night sky was replaced by a Digimon Analyzer! It called the creature a human-type. Lee. Am I supposed to fight it? It threw a golden beam at him, knocking him into the distance. He wants me to fight me. No! I can't. How can I fight... myself?_

Lee's body was sitting upright. He was sweating and breathing hard. "What a nightmare!" It was going to morning soon. Maybe about an hour or so. He could feel it. The air was cool and moist. Lee inspected himself. He had shrunk considerably. His whole body was now covered in thin, chocolate-colored fur. His ears had been long since yesterday, but they were starting to feel natural. Soon he'd be finished. What if the final change hurts? Neither Takato or Rika mentioned it. More anxieties to add to his collection. 

Tilley had been standing there, paralyzed with fear. Had she killed Riley? Her friend was no longer on fire, but she wasn't moving, either. And she couldn't tell if Riley was bleeding, either. She had grown red hair all over her body. "How long have I been standing here?" It felt like hours. Maybe it was. How am I going to explain this at work? What if I get arrested? I don't want to go to jail." The motionless body groaned. Tilley almost hit the roof from being shocked like that. "Are you... are you... ok?" Tilley placed her feathered arm behind her coworker's head. "Please be ok. Please oh please."__

_The light! It hurts! But why? Its only light. He put his hand into the blazing desert sun. It burned! He immediately retracted it back into his cave. Everything was a light shade of red. He could hear something. A rabbit. I am hungry. He gazed deeply at it, then scooped it up and devoured it in one bite. I must get out! He folded his jet-black wings over his whole body and made a break for it, dashing out into the sunlight._

"beep beep beep bee..*" The alarm clock had been smashed by a heavy fist. Yamaki yawned and stretched. "What a night." He rolled out of bed and opened the curtains. The light! It was painful!! "Arrrrrrggh!" he collapsed to the floor, then struggled out of the light. It felt like someone had used him for firewood! "Why... does the light... hurt so..." The mirror! His eyes were totally red, and he had four of them! The top two were covered by his hair. But his skin was dark and two bat-like wings were poking out from his back. He noted that he could move them some. "No." Yamaki tried to cover his face, but realized his arms were now freakishly long, ending in wicked looking claws. "What... am I?" 

"So cold." Reilly whispered. 

Lee realized his pants no longer fit him, and his sweat shirt was like a tent. Well, as long as any part of him was human he wasn't going to give up that part of himself without a fight. He didn't care if they were impractical. He knew he wouldn't be able to get back to sleep so he just sat on the wall looking at the park waiting for the sun to rise. Terriermon sitting quitly next to him sleeping. Takato and Guilmon still using each other as pillows. 

"This can't be happing this can't be happing this can't be happening." Yamaki began ranting. 

Rikamon had always been one to get up early, even as a kit. Okay, so her mother still considered her one, but that was besides the point. The digimon opened her eyes and in one quick movment was sitting up in her crouch position. Heh, she was up before mother. How causual. 

Maybe it was her newly-acquired sense of fun, or maybe she was just going crazy. Either way, Rikamon stepped silently over to an old trunk sitting lonely in the corner. She rummaged through it, finding an old fishing net. She tossed it over the sleeping Renamon. _Nothing better to start the day than a little practical joke._

Lee stared at the skyscrapers and the sun fighting to rise above them. I wonder what I look like now? Did the change go further when I was asleep? I need a mirror. "Peanut butter..." he could hear one of the Guilmons, he wan't sure which, talking in their sleep. 

_"Bzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzt*" _Kazu threw his alarm clock at the wall. Never did approve of the things He yawned and stretched out, then rolled out of bed and slipped on the blue bunny slippers he had since he was a kid. (One of the little secrets his friends would never let him live down) "Why isn't it the weekend?" he mumbled, "Oh, wait. Day before yesterday was the weekend. Aptiva." Eyes still not adjusted to the light, he scavenged through his drawers for something to wear. "Lookin' good." He checked himself on his mirror. "Huh?" He looked... different! His fingers were longer, ending in little suction pads at the tips. His skin was a very light shade of green and... were those stripe patern on his legs? "Aw crud! I have Mad Takato Disease!" He instinctively grabbed his phone and autodialed Kenta. Wait. Would he believe me? Kazu thought for a second. "No." He hung up and went downstairs for breakfast.   
__ __

_She saw it. Her prey. It wasn't even aware of her yet. Then again. Save the kitesumes, her race were masters of stealth. She leaped from her hiding place and attack her quarrery. She fought him fang and claw. And bit into his neck, drawing blood. She made a roar of victory claiming the prize as her's.___

She heard a knock on the door.   
"Jeri school." Said a male voice.   
What had that been? She though knocking the cob webs from her brain. She rarly even remembered her dreams. But this one was clear in her mind. She hadn't even changed out of cloths when she had fallen asleep last night. 

Hmm. Her coffee seemed stronger than ussual today. Oh well thought the teacher. She couldn't even remember what she had been dreaming about last night. But it seem plesant somehow. Whatever. Another day in the jungle. Maybe Takato had been right. Maybe her place of work was more a zoo than a school. She didn't know how right she was going to become. 

Trily though of why she hadn't told anyone about what was hapening to her before this._ Because of that stupid betting pool! Dammit!_

"Well, if its any consolation, I bet Yamaki is going through something weird too." Riley joked with her blonde friend. It took her a moment to get the joke. "Yeah. I guess. Hey, do you think we should go in for work today?"   
"Errm... maybe." 

"Why are we going back!?"   
"Because we have to find out. Maybe Hypnos will have some answers."   
Riley was driving, but all of Tilley's questions were starting to bug her. Was she always like this? They pulled into the subterranian parking lot of their workplace. They could see Yamaki's car parked there too. "He's here." She told her blonde friend. They had been debating whether to go to work all day. She made the argument that maybe Hypnos had tracked the changes. "You're here!" a deep, raspy voice said from the shadows. Four crimson red eyes opened and glared at them. "..." Both of them were terrified! "Yamaki?"   
"Yes. It's me. How could this have happened? My plan was perfect."   
Tilley shouted in excitement. "What are you so happy about!!??" Yamaki demanded. "The betting pool!" She replied. "I hate you." Riley mumbled.   


The second bell rang. Mrs. Usagi took a quick inventory of her students. Everyone was here but two girls and Takato. She made a note to call his parents. "Now class, the first thing we're going to talk about today is... what is so funny Mr. Peijai?" A little boy contained his laughter long enough to say she looked like Yoda with fuzzy ears like that. The teacher made up an excuse that it was look-weird day for the faculty. "Then," the little boy said, "What about those two? They're not part of the faculty." He was pointing to Kazu and Kenta, who had both hid in the back of the room. Kazu had passed off his skin as a rash. Kenta was trying to convince everyone it was a new hairstyle. About the only person who believed that half-baked story was Jeri. She didn't even notice the other kids talking about Kazu and Kenta. She was deep in thought. I wonder what it is. She unzipped her bookbag and pulled a damaged blue Digivice from it. "Jeri you know video games aren't allowed until recess. Put that thing away!" Her instructer shouted. "Just try not to act too suspicious." Kenta whispered to his buddy. "Are you listening?" No, he wasn't. Kazu was too busy concentrating on a tasty-looking fly that buzzed all around the room. 

_______________   
Jeri looked at Mrs. Usagi, why should she listen to her? She wasn't one of the great cats like herself, it was a little silly to, what the heck was she thinking? Mrs. Usagi was her teacher, of course she was sopposed to be listening to her. And where had the whole cat thing come from? Her dream must of still been going around in her head. She complied and put the digivice away. She didn't see it's screen spark for one moment before dying.   
______________   
The sun was well up. Thought Lee. Time to wake up the reptials.   
"Peanut better!" He shouted. Both dino's were up in a split seconds. 

Both Takato and Guilmon looked around the chamber. "Where!? Where!?"   
"I was just saying that to wake you two up." Lee merrily explained. Both Guilmons were growling at him like they could maul him at any second. "Erm... calm down! Please?" Takato cooled off a bit, but Guilmon kept glaring at him. There was small thump. Lee turned to see that Terriermon had been thrown from the sleeping lizards. 

"Hey can you guys use a marching band to wake up next time? I think it would be less trouble." Said Terriermon. Terriermon looked at Lee, he was only roughly twice his height now.   
"I guess I won't be getting any more free ride from you any time soon."   
"Don't rube it in." He saw Guilmon was still stareing at him. "Can you stop that already?"   
Takatomon was doing his best to sort out his dreams from reality. He noticed the drawings of Guilmon. That inner most part of him that drove him to create Guilmon and complete his design though reformatted with the rest of him remained intact and strong. 

Takatomon was torn, find food or work on his drawings, find food, or work on his drawings, ugh! His head hurt. 

Gym class was a strong mix of sweat, hot breath and shouts. Kazu and Kenta knew how they looked but they could afford to cut class. (they wouldn't last the night at their partents house if they found out) Jeri was da bomb at class that day, she was turning more than a few heads the way she was moving. The teacher was thoughly impressed. She was showing zeal she never had before, in phyical activities. 

Jeri was running circles around all the other basketball players! And some of them were even on the school team! "Errmm... Jeri?" one of the kids from the rivaling team approached her. "Whaddya want!?" she snarled and flung the ball into the basketball.   
"My team discussed it and... we give up."   
"Give up!? Wimps!"   
"Well, I just don't think its fair. The score is 98 to 12 and your team is slaughtering us."   
Jeri seemed to be growling now, "Fine then. run away like a cowardly little Ogremon!"   
"What's an Ogremon?"   
Jeri was really ticked off. "If you don't know about Digimon, you really are a loser. Here. Take the stupid ball!" She picked it up and flung it at the boy, knocking him down. "You were no challenge anyway!" She steamed off the court. Since when have I been so agressive? Aw, who cares!?   
"Jeri!" Oh no.   


Kazu and Kenta were both hiding in the locker room. By now, they were convinced they had 'Mad Takato Disease'. They were just biding their time until they could get out of school and try to find him. Man, since when does Kenta do this good against me? Kazu held up his hand of cards. They were having a duel. Kenta put down another card. "There! My HighAndromon clobbers your Gazimon and gives me the 300 point advantage! I win!"   
"No! I can't believe it! You never win! How did you manage to pound me so badly!!??"   
"You really wanna know?"   
"You're not psychic." he added sarcastically.   
"In that locker behind you, I could see your reflection. And your cards."   
"What!?" Kazu spun around. It was just an ordinary green locker. There was a reflection, but it was so tiny no one could possibly see it! Especially not without their glasses! "Yeah right! Put your glasses back on. You're starting to scare me." he wasn't believing him at all. Kenta's eyes had turned yellow and narrow. Like an owl's. "You can't beat me again. I'd like to see you try!" 

Ten duels later, Kazu tore a few of his cards into pieces. How can he be beating me!? Its just a winning streak. Just good luck. That's all. I know it! He can't see a reflection in the locker! "Ok, what cards am I holding in my hand right now?"   
"Clockmon, DeviTamamon, and... either Angemon or Angewomon."   
He was right. 

"Jeri, I saw you out there on the court." Said the couch. "Wow, you really totalled those guys. How would you like to join the girls basketball team?" it was Mr. Stromoni, the coach.   
Jeri thought about it for a minute. Sports has never been her thing. And though she did particarally like the adrinalin rush this period, she was quite satisfied with the challenge.   
"Give some time to think about it."   
"How about next week? That's when our next try outs are."   
"Fine by me." She said off handedly as she walked off. 

"Mother." Said a voice that invaded Renamon's light sleep._ Reremon? _The fox kitesume opened her eyes and jumped into her crouch position only to end tangled up and heard Rika laugh. Rika laugh? And not a cold impassionate laugh either. A child's innocent laughter.   
Renamon remember. Child kitesume infamious for their sense of humor. But Rika wasn't a kitesume! Not really. Renamon remembered that human saying. If it walks like a duck. Looks like a duck. Acts like a duck. Swims like a duck. And quacks like a duck.   
_Oh no._

"Rika . . ." Renamon said shifting into and out shadow form and letting the net drop.   
"Yes mother?" Said Rikamon jumping into sight in front of her. She had her arms behind her back with a slight smirk on her face. Renamon realized she had said that with no trace of sarcasim.   
Renamon put both her gloved hands on the child kitesume's shoulders.   
"Rika . . ." Renamon sighed.   
"Why do you keep taking the 'mon' off my name mom?" She asked coriously. 

"Rika... you are not a Digimon!" Renamon shouted. "If I'm not a Digimon, then how come I look like you mom?"   
"I'm not your mother! Rika, please... try to remember! Who are your parents?"   
"You and... and... I dunno." Rika head hurt every time she tried to recall the past. She could distinctly remember her and her mother playing tag in an open field. She was six. Somehow, that didn't seem right, but her memories wouldn't lie, would they? "But mom..." Renamon slapped her. "I... I'm sorry. But you must understand. Things are not what they seem. Kitsunes should know that better than anybody." The attic door creaked open. "Who's there? I know you're here. I could hear you screaming!" It was Rika's grandma. "Hide!" Rika slipped into the darkness. Renamon was marveled at how easily she could do that now. Rika's grandma screamed. She was looking directly at Renamon! I forgot to go to shadow form!   
"What... are you?" she asked. 

"I . . .. " Where to be begin? "I'm someone who has failed your granddaughter . . ."   
"Your the spirit I've sensed near Rika all these months!" She said in revealation.   
"I am not a spirit but . . . that is not what's important. I do not ask for your forgivness for what has happened to Rika. Only a fool would ask that of you, but please, understand I had NO choice or PART of has happened to her."   
"What HAS happened to her?" The old woman said in fear.   
" . . . I say again. I'm sorry. Rika, show yourself."   
The old woman had to hold onto something as she saw a shadow in the room take the shape of a child version of the creature in front of her saving it didn't have gloves, and cliped on one side of it's fur was a card pack, it also had violet eyes.   
"Rika . . ." She whispered. She looked at the kitesume and saw in those blue within blacks shame. Renamon lowered her head awaiting her judgement from this human, the only one fit to judge her.   
Rikamon looked at the old woman, why had her mother told her to assume phyical form right in front of her? It didn't make sense. And she had never made contact with his human before . . . 

"Why does everyone keep taking the 'mon' off my name?" Said Rikamon confused about this entire thing. 

"Is that... Rika?" the old woman whispered.   
"Yes. We don't know what caused it." Renamon replied.   
"Mom, is that a friend of yours? She looks familiar for some reason."   
"She thinks... you're her mother?"   
Renamon nodded. There was a long silence, then finally Rika's grandma smiled. "I want you to take care of her."   
Renamon was shocked! Was she just letting go of her own granddaughter!? Just like that?   
"I... I don't understand."   
"I can tell you care deeply for her. You understand her. And that's more than I can say for her real mom. Rika has always been a free-spirited youth. Now..." the old lady's voice trailed off. But Renamon understood. She thanked her and disappeared. "Mom! Wait up!" Rika disappeared too.   
"Good-bye . . my Ruki." The old woman said solumly to the dark.   


End of Page Three of . . . we arn't finnished yet by a long shot.   
  

Flames, comments, good or bad reviews, suggestions, reactions, occasional constructive criticism all welcome. Spelling corrections also welcome as long as you tell what you think of the story itself too.   
  


	4. Day In The Life

You know the drill. Please respond. I am only one of three writers doing this though to be frank, I think I'm doing most of the work, or maybe that's just me. I'm too lazy to italalize thoughts anymore. 

"Hey mom!" Said Rika's mother Noniko meeting her in the hallway. "What was that noise upstairs?"   
"Nothing, it was just the wind that's all." Said the grandparent.   
"Good, for a moment I was afraid it was mice." 

"Mom?" Said Rikamon following her parent, as she seemed to running for sheer purpose of losing her on the rooftops. Rika doubled her efforts but she could barley keep up, so she had been holding back all this time. "Mother please! What was that old human talking about! Real mother? YOUR my real mother!"   
Renamon stopped. She had to. Take good care of her. The old woman had said. Rika caught up with her in a few seconds.   
But she herself didn't have the best track record with children; her last one had died in front of her eyes just after her mate. She could almost hear Rika's grandmother saying that this was her chance to make amends. Her pride had blinded her before, now this time, she knew better.   
"Well, well, looks whose up bright an' early ta day." Said an annoying voice both digimon knew all too well.   
"Not you again." Said Rikamon in her business tone turning to him. "Can't you go bother Goggle Head for a change?"   
"Again? Sorry girly but though you do look like sweetly here I don't remember running into her stunted clone."   
"I guess with a head that small that I should have expect a brain to match if you can't even remember my face Impmon."   
"Hey! How'd yose know my name?!"   
"It's only every other day you try to charm my mother and insult me to my face."   
"Mom?!!" Impmon's eyes bulged and looked at Renamon to Rikamon and back again. "Wait a minute! I know that voice but . . . but . . ." Impmon fainted and hit the pavement.   
"He's acting weirder than usual." Muttered Rikamon with a smirk.   
Renamon recognized that smirk on her face. At least that hadn't changed. It was like the Rika she knew had gone though a filter. Some parts changed, others left alone.   
"I wonder what the dino twins are up to . . ." Said Rika. 

The bell rang signaling the end of Gym. Both boys made a sigh of relief.   


While changing in the girl's locker room Jeri was showing to be more than a little imposing than none of the other girls had come to expect from the meek girl with her toy puppet. She practically knock one girl into the lockers while making her way towards her own.   
"Watch it." Commented the girl.   
Jeri didn't even acknowledge the statement.   
Jeri tossed her gym clothes in the locker. She reached for her backpack, then remembered that little beaten up gadget in on of the compartments. Jeri searched for the right one and, making sure no one saw, pulled the Digivice from its holder. Weird. It doesn't seem as beaten up as before. I thought it had a huge dent in it right here. The Digivice wasn't really damaged anymore. It was really just scratched. "What'cha got there, little Juri?" an annoying voice taunted from behind her.   
"Not now, Agouti. I don't have time for you."   
"Oh," a plump girl with frizzy orange hair mocked, "Since when? Little Juri has always had time for me before?" She snatched the Digivice away. "What is this, some kind of stupid Tomagotchi?"   
"Its beyond your level of comprehension. Give it back or I'll leave a dent in your face."   
Agouti was shocked. She picked on Jeri all the time, but she never fought back. "Little puppet girl finally grew a backbone, huh? Let's see you just try to take it from me." Jeri didn't need to be told twice. Her leg swung out, tripping the bully. Before Agouti could hit the floor, Jeri backhanded and kicked her, grabbing the Digivice out of her hand. "Nice talking to you." Jeri grabbed her backpack and walked away. She could hear some girls cheering and Agouti crying. I like the new me. She smiled ever so slightly. New me? Since when am I mean to people like this? I should apologize. Aw, she deserved it.   
"Out of my way." Said Jeri pushing the two boys aside not even looking at them.   
"When did SHE start taking lessons from Rika Anaka?" Said Kenta said referring to the Digimon Tournament champ. Or as some chillingly called her, the Digimon Queen, or the Lady Kaizer as Kenta thought of her, (she was certainly as ruthless as Kenji from the show), He had never met her, but just about anyone who paid attention to what went on in the card game knew about her, and the rumors she only won because last years champ Ryoh just up and vanished. 

"What the heck are we going to do?" said Lee to himself. What were he, the two dinos, and Rika going to do for the basics of life?   
Where were they going to get food? Would anyone come looking for them? Lee locked these questions away in the back of his head. He'd deal with it when the problem rose. Just then, he heard a loud rumbling. "An earthquake?"   
"My tummy." Guilmon rubbed his empty stomach. "I'm hungry."   
"Me too!" Takato jumped in. Lee sighed. The problem had risen. He hoped it wouldn't have happened this early. Come to think of it, he was kinda hungry too. "You know, there's a burger stand only a few blocks from the park." Takato put his claw to his mouth and thought about it. "We don't have any money." Lee reminded him.   
"We could always do the puppy eyed routine." Said the data digimon. "That always works in the movies."   
"This isn't the movie Terrerimon." Pointed out Lee.   
"You got any better ideas?"   
"Anything is better than getting caught."   
"So hungry..." Guilmon groaned. The smell of food was driving Lee crazy! He just couldn't take it anymore and gave in. "Ok, here's the plan..." 

"Honey, isn't it a bit early to be cooking steak? Diner is a long way off." Takato's father came downstairs into the kitchen. "I just had a craving for meat." she replied.   
"A craving for meat? Wow, I've never heard of that before."   
He sniffed the air and his mouth watered. "But I've got to admit . . . it does smell good."   
In spit of the father's early objections, both parents dug into the steak the moment it was done with ferocity. Takato's mother ideally thought how it would taste raw, and found trying to be repulsed by the idea of eating uncooked meat rather difficult. 

It was getting worse! Kazu and Kenta were both trying to convince the other to try finding Takato. Kenta was having trouble speaking, as his lips had become hard as nails and seemed to be growing out. "He knows! I bet he did something to those cards he gave us!! He rigged them!" Kenta's lips would make a clicking sound as he talked. "I wonder who else he got to?" Kazu pondered that question. "Jeri! She's been acting weird lately! We have to tell her! Where is she?"   
"It lunchtime, genius. Where do you think she'd be?"   
"I'm not going in there! I'm all scaly!"   
"I have a feathers and a beak! Who's worse?"   
Kazu glared at him. "Fine, I'll go." 

As soon as Tilley walked in, her coworkers started whispering and pointing. She had plucked all the feathers off, but she was never very popular anyways. "Congratulations. Here, take it!" One man in heavyset glasses tossed her a shoebox. "What's this?" she asked?   
"Your winnings. We heard Yamaki up there screaming and ranting about his 'perfect plan' this morning. Your bet was Tuesday before lunch. Now get lost!"   
She opened the shoebox. It looked to have at least 200 dollars in it! Wow She had just come into the building to get a data printout from Hypnos, but this was an added bonus. Not that she minded, of course. Better not let Riley and Yamaki find out about this. She stepped into the elevator and hid the money in her purse. 

Guilmon and Takato walked in as casually as possible. Of course, two dinosaurs walking into a restaurant was sure to attract some attention. Hope they think this is just a costume. Takato thought to himself.   
"We'll have six hamburgers please."   
"Would you like fries or a drink with that?"   
"No thanks."   
The cashier called out a number. In no time, their order arrived.   
"Here you go sir. That'll be $9.65. And, if you don't mind my asking, why are you wearing that dinosaur suit? It looks so cool!"   
"Emm... stunt double. We're monsters on a movie being made right here in the city." Takato answered. Lee could come up with some good stories when he wanted to. Guilmon picked up the tray and started for the door.   
"Sir, you have to pay for that. Sir? Sir!!"   
Both dinosaurs dashed outside and didn't stop running until the got back to the shrine. "How did it go?" Lee asked?   
"Perfect. Your plan worked, Leemon." Takato handed his friend a hamburger.   
"Call me 'mon' ever again and you'll sorry." Said Lee plainly.   
"That's your name isn't it?"   
"Lee Wong is my name! There's no MON on it, and there's not on your either Takato!"   
He heard his voice change slightly in pitch as he spoke, he felt his body parts begin to move, great, just great, I have to remember who I am, I'm Lee Wong, Digimon Tamer, I have a sister named Suzie who torments Terriermon all day because I can't let my family know I have a real digimon. I can't end up like Takato. I can't!   
The other stared as Lee dropped his burger and began to shake as his size got smaller and from his perspective his already ultra baggy cloths got larger. 

"Suzie come out of your room now or I'll just use my key and come in there!"   
"No daddy, I don't feel so good."   
"Suzan Wong, I want you to open this door on the count of three! 1..."   
Suzie leapt up from her bed. Hide! Where can I hide?   
"...2..."   
The closet!   
"...3! Suzie?" Mr. Wong opened the door. There was no one in there! Then he noticed the closet door was ajar. "I know you're in there. Suzie, what's wrong?" He pulled the door open. "What on earth?" His daughter cautiously stepped out. She was a lot shorter than before, and her ears were almost long enough to reach the floor. Her whole body was covered in a thin layer of dirty white fur. "What... happened to you?"   
"I don't know! When I woke up I looked like this!" she sobbed. She flung herself back onto her bed and cried. "Is this happening to Lee too! He has been acting weird and he didn't come home last night." Mr. Wong wondered. Suzie's head lifted enough to see herself in her dresser's mirror. I look like... like Terriermon?   
Suzie began to cry. "Daddy . . . I'm scared."   
"It okay Suzie . . . I'm here for you." He said tenderly holding his youngest daughter as her crying burst into sobs.   


"A couple of kids dress in red dino outfits came in, ordered over a half dozen burgers and ran without paying!" Said the cashier to the manager.   
"Goggle head and his clone are causing trouble extra early today, I'm surprised they woke up before noon." Said Rikamon to herself her fox ears picking up the conversation by chance heading to Guilmon's hiding place with her mother besides her.   
  


"Where are we going, mom?" Rika tried to get her partner's attention. But Renamon wouldn't stop. She'll remember the school. She has to. Renamon changed direction and lured her Tamer to the one place she knew she'd remember. 

"Leem... Lee?" Takato had to be careful he didn't step on his friend. Something was fighting its way out of the pile of clothes. After a few seconds of struggling, a Lopmon emerged from it. "Did I..." Lee was panic-stricken. What if I start forgetting like Takatomon. Oh God, its already happening! I called him -mon!   
"Lee?" Terriermon approached him. They were about the same size. "Are you ok?"   
"No! I am not ok! I don't want to be a Digimon! I won't let my mind get reformatted! I..."   
"Momentai."   
Lee covered himself with his ears and started meditating.   
"Umm... Lee? Can I have your hamburger?" Takato asked.   
Lee didn't answer. He sat there his ears wrapped around himself like a cocoon.   
I am Lee Wong. Tamer. I am Lee Wong. Tamer. I am Lee Wong. Tamer.   
"I don't think he's coming out any time soon." Observed Terriermon. Poking one of the ears with one of his own.   
Takatomon shrugged and shallow Lee's burger in one gulp. The data digimon sweat dropped. His type were weak against virus types, he just hoped they didn't decide to eat him! 

"What are we doing back here?" Said Rikamon looked over the building.   
"Then you remember being here!"   
"Of course I do . . . I come here all the time." Rikamon blinked and shook her head. Where had that come from? "And hate every second of it . . .!" Her emotions told her she loathed this place, and she wanted nothing more than to be away from here.   
Rika couldn't even remember why she knew this place. Another image ran through her head. I used to come here. To learn. With other Digimon. Do Digimon come to school? "Think, Rika! Please!" There was a long silence. Finally, an annoying voice broke through it.   
"There you are! Come back here, vixey!"   
"Oh no. How did you get here?" Renamon sighed. Impmon climbed up the tree so he could be seen.   
"I have my ways!" he replied.   
"No, you saw us a few buildings back and clung to the roof of a bus until you could get here." Rika slyly remarked. Impmon had an anime sweat drop on him. "Shut up. That's not what I came here to yap about! How did you clone yourself!?"   
"I told you, this is Rika. And why would you care, anyway?"   
Impmon backed down a little. "Well, I'm... just interested is all. I'm powerful enough ta clobba' either of ya! And whaddya mean that mini-me is your human?"   
"Mini-me! I'll show you...!"   
"At ease, Rika. She's changed is all."   
"Tell me the truth or else..." Impmon held up a finger to use his attack.   
"You think some little firecracker will scare us!?" Rika piped up.   
"Firecracker! Take this! Night of Fire!" He threw the little ball at them. Renamon's arm swung out and knocked the fireball away. "You were saying?"   
"Agh! I was saying... I gotta go! Later ya losers! Ha!"   
"That wretched creature is so annoying!" Rika looked back to Renamon.   
"Mom . . . can you excuse me for two seconds?" Not waiting for an answer Rikamon leaped into the foliage that Impmon had just gone though. A karate 'hi-ya!' later Impmon was screaming flying from the tree and across the sky.   
"Rika!" Scolded Renamon.   
"Don't worry mother, I was aiming for the park . . . he'll hit the duck pond . . . maybe. Besides, if anyone needed their ego cut down a few points it was him . . . "   
Renamon sighed. Was she like this when she was Rika's age? 

Calmon was enjoying himself watch two of this world most silly creatures. Humans and ducks. And they interacted together so great! The child digimon loved watching the ducks swim across the riving, and them squawking with human children came running towards them. Pity they were all gone for the day.   
His ears expanded to their full size as he heard a faint whine that steadily grew loader until it plainly a scream. Calmon watching ideally as a purple comet crashed into the water, missing the edge by a full two feet.   
Calmon hopped over to wear the thing had splash landed and looked innocently as it surfaced, Impmon looked at the sky, too miserable to curse the sun for being up.   
Calmon seeing the paw shaped footprint on his face said. "You okay?"   
Impmon said weakly. "Go away . . . I'm in too much pain to kill you . . ."   
"Your still no fun." commented Calmon his ear folding back to small size and hoping away.   
"You . . . come back here." Said Impmon weakly climbing onto the shore.   
"You just told me to go away." Corrected Calmon looking back.   
"Don't tell me what I said you little -ack~!" A duck walked by spreading it's wings just enough to send Impmon back to into the water for an anchor splash. 

Jeri ate her lunch in silence, everyone started when she looked at them, her eyes hadn't changed, but the way she looked at people had. And it was scaring some of the lower grades.   
Jeri felt a tap on her shoulder, she turned her head and glared at however was there. "What do you want . . ." Jeri's eyes went a bit wide because she saw his was scaly.   
"Jeri. We kinda heard about what you've been doing all day." Kazu tried to say this as politely as possible. He didn't want her to start kicking him around too. "Yeah. And?" She replied rather callously. "Well, as you can see, something weird is happening to us to."   
"Yeah. I would be weird too if I was all scaly."   
"That's the point! Remember what happened to Takato yesterday? He went nuts. And I think it's happening to me and you and Kenta. I think another boy from our class is getting furry too. I'm not sure. What if 'Mad Takato Disease' is real?"   
Jeri looked at her feet for a second. "Kazu? You know, you're right."   
"I am?"   
"Yes. Look." Jeri shifted around in her seat. A thin, fur-covered tail flicked out behind her. Kazu gasped. "Its worse than I thought!" Jeri gathered her stuff and followed him outside.   
"Whoa." Was all the boy could say seeing Jeri's newest appendage.   
"Yeah," Jeri replied, "I got it between second period and gym. Dunno how it grew so long since then." Kazu pushed the door open with a vacant look on his face. He was imagining what he would look like if he grew a tail too. "What took you so long?" Kenta said from beneath their usual gathering place. "You too, huh? What are you, a bird?" Jeri commented quite rudely. "Erm... an owl or a hawk. I have uncanny eyesight now. By the way, you have a piece of orange stuck in your teeth. Jeri blushed. How unsightly. Wait, how did he see that? I was at least ten feet away! she picked at her teeth and flicked the remains away.   
"Anyway, we think Takato is behind this. You saw the way he was acting yesterday just before he freaked. He gave us all his cards yesterday, he must of fixed them or something."   
"Takato would never do anything like that. I'm sorry to disappoint you guys. But Takato ISN"T uncaring, vindictive, or cruel. So just come off it!"   
"Hey! Why are you defending him?! Do you have a crush on him or something?"   
Jeri turned pink for a second. "What?! No! I'm just stating the facts! He's not like your painting him! Your like all those 'Davis is stupid' guys on the Internet!"   
"You don't have a computer!"   
"I over hear you guys and Takato talking about it!"   
"Guys, guys!" Kenta interrupted, "Back to the matter at hand. How are we goanna get off the school grounds?"   
"And where would we start looking?" Jeri added.   
"That little cement house that Takato tricked us at!" Kazu exclaimed, "He's not home, I called. So he must be hiding in the park!"   
The other two kids nodded in agreement.   
"I can distract security while you sneak through the gate." Jeri volunteered. After all, what guard would suspect foul play from poor, sweet, puppet-toting Jeri? She put on her best face and ran off to annoy security. Ugh. I despise being this cute. she thought. "Well, now that we got that over, let's go!" Kenta flapped his arms up and down like a bird.   
"Dude, what are you doing?"   
"..." He didn't know. It just sorta happened. Weird "Erm... I dunno. Hurry!" Both of them hid behind the slide. They dashed behind the swings. Then over to the wall. Kazu gave Kenta a boost up. "Almost... ok! I'm over!" he called down, dropping to the other side of the brick wall. "Here I come!" Kazu put his hand to the wall. It stuck on like glue. He put the other. Soon he was clinging to the wall. He scaled up and waited at the top. "How did you do that?" Kenta demanded.   
"I dunno. Its weird. I just knew I could. Let's wait for Jeri."   
"Wait for me?"   
"Jeri!?"   
They turned to see her laying on a branch of the nearby tree. "What took you?" she hopped down.   
"I thought it takes longer to distract a security guard." Kazu mocked.   
"Not really. With the right... persuasion." she had a devilish look on her. She had knocked the guard out cold. She didn't quite understand why, but she just did. "Are you goanna sit there all day, or do you wanna go already?" her tail crept out from her dress. She hated having to hide it, but any human who saw a little girl with a tail might think twice about baby-talking her.   
Not knowing what else to do the boy complied. Too bad this hadn't happened a month ago, they could have claimed they were dressed for Halloween. Jeri took the lead, naturally, she was getting pretty impulsive. It was flustering Jeri to no end that her tail was pushing certain things out of place, at least her dress was long enough that no one was going to notice. Besides, her tail itself was a big enough distraction.   
"How are we going to keep from getting attention? And Jeri . . could you put that somewhere else?" Kenta said pointing at Jeri's tail.   
The girl moaned and the tail under Jeri's command lifted up and twisted around her waste.   
"Alright boy . . follow the leader!" Jeri dashed off, the boy could only once again follow. 

"Did you get them?" Yamaki's voice was sounding hoarse and somewhat evil. Tilley could see his four red eyes glaring at her. Riley had lit on fire again and sat on the hood of her car. "Yeah. They're all right here. Look at these readouts!" Tilley exclaimed. He took them from her. "Let's see... op. finalanswer.exe infected subject 02275A. Its data was then broken down whereas the other three subjects absorbed it. They became infected with finalanswer.exe, but it did not kill them. The virus itself..." Yamaki's voice trailed off, but his glowing crimson eyes were wide open. "It.. the virus itself... Final Answer... it BioEmerged! But how! It's a program!"   
"It gets worse, sir. Look." Riley pointed to the bottom paragraph.   
"The virus then infected mutated and infected three unknown humans. In them, it reconstructed their DNA into... these creatures! It mutated again and infected even more unknown humans! End of Report. Damn! It was those kids and their Digimon! I know it! I WILL kill them for this!"   
"Sir! You're losing control! They're just kids!" Both Tilley and Riley leapt at him, struggling to keep him restrained.   
"I told you these creatures were dangerous!" Yamaki tossed Riley at the wall.   
"But sir, the virus was created by..." Tilley was thrown on top of a small blue car. She was hurt badly. "...by you, sir!" She passed out. Yamaki spread his wings, ripping the top of his suit to shreds. "I... I don't care! They must die!" He was growing! In mere seconds, he tore through his whole suit. "Sir...?" Riley choked out. No response. Yamaki, now a DeviDramon, gave out a victorious roar and smashed through the garage wall. "He's gone! Flew off. God, are you ok, Tilley?" she helped her friend off the dented hood. "What is..." she was shocked. There was a wad of money underneath Tilley's body. "I... was going to tell you." she meekly defended. Riley looked about ready to kill her again.   
  
  


Takatomon look at his pile of drawings from his house and remembered why Leemon had brought them. Besides, he had the ultimate and mega levels to design as well, oh and maybe one of those cool beyond mega digimon they had in the movies.   
Takatomon picked up one of the pencils, he looked at surprisingly intently, and he was trying to figure out how to hold it with his claws.   
Takatomon delicately picked up the colored pencil. He had done this before, he had drawn pictures of himself and Guilmon before. He could do it right now.   
He held the pencil in his claw. No, that didn't seem right. Or that. "Arrgh! Why can't I remember how to draw!?"   
"Because Guilmons weren't designed to draw things." Lee replied.   
"What genius designed him, anyways! Oh wait, that was me."   
Lee couldn't resist. He began rolling on the floor laughing. Suddenly, there was a loud crunch. It came from the roof! "What is that!?" Guilmon shouted.   
"YOU WILL PAY!!"   
"Who... said that?" Lee tried to sound brave, but Lopmons just weren't designed that way. Claw imprints began appearing on the ceiling. "I dunno about the rest of you, but I'm goanna save my hide!" Takato grabbed his stuff, along with his partner, and charged through the gate. "For once, maybe he's right!" Lee and Terriermon followed. They looked at the roof. A DeviDramon hovered there, beating at the hideout. "Who is that!?" Guilmon pleaded. Takato grabbed his Digivice and pointed it at the intruder. It took awhile, but the holographic screen recognized the creature. Instead of a Digimon, it showed a human in a suit, wearing dark glasses. The words YAMAKI appeared beneath its picture. "Is this thing broken? That sure isn't what a DeviDramon normally looks like!" Lee called. His voice! Yamaki stopped flying and landed atop the shrine. He was glaring right at them! "You!" his voice was full of hate and fury, "You caused this! My plan was perfect! All I ever wanted to do was save the world from monsters! You tricked me! You made me into one of your kind!" They had no clue what he was talking about. "I'll kill you ALL! Crimson Claw!" He sliced at the air, causing jagged waves of crimson energy to fly at the Tamers. "Run!!" they all leapt out the way as the attack hit the ground and exploded. "Come BACK!!" Yamaki lifted off. As he rose into the air, the Guilmon's lair fell to pieces. "Crimson Claw!" Terriermon and Lee spread their ears and tried to glide out of sight. Yamaki had sensed them here. The same way ironically Guilmon could sense digimon. 

"Mom what's with the look?" Said Rikamon seeing her mother's face in a far off land.   
"I . . . was just thinking how acted when I was your age. Reckless. Thinking nothing could touch me."   
"I'd say you proven your point."   
"No I didn't! It cost me! It cost me dearly!"   
What do you mean?" Said Rikamon not getting it. Her mother never did speak much about her past.   
"When I still lived in the digital world. I fell in love and had a kite."   
"Me?"   
"No!"   
"Oh."   
"Anyway, I was a rookie, so was he, my family didn't like the idea of me having an egg so early. So we said, 'to the trash file with you' and left. I took care of Reremon when she hatched myself. Anyway, I had my child, mate, and just as important at the time, my pride. Eventually we fought this ultimate, both Reremon and my lover paid the ultimate price for our stupid pride. Both of them died and were downloaded in front of my eyes. He said 'run' to me, and that's what I did. I took me quite some time for me to realize he wasn't chasing me. I realized that day that if I allowed my pride to blind me, I was going to end up dead."   
"Mom . . . " Whispered Rikamon. Renamon decided now was not the time to correct her. "I . . . I didn't know. I'm sorry. It . . . it must of hurt you when I went off headstrong into battle like I always do. No wonder you've never let me fight solo. All this time I thought . . . I thought you believed I couldn't fight on my own . . . " This was a bit of a revelation for Renamon, whatever the change had done to Rika's mind and memories hadn't really erased anything, simply made them a digimon equivalent. Like changing the colors on a paint by numbers set.   
What could she possible do to make her remember, if her memories hadn't actually be locked away or erased but reformatted?   
  


Miss Usagi(sp) didn't fail to notice the three new empty chairs in her class. Kenta and Kazu she could understand. But Jeri cutting class? No, she must have just come down with something like she had that one time and gone home.   
Just to be sure Mrs. Usagi announced to the class that she'd be right back and stepped out of the room. She then proceeded down the hall, in the direction of the Nurse's office. She rounded the corner and peeked into the teacher's lounge. There, on the curtains, was a snippet of catnip. One of the other teachers brought their cat to school once and forgot to take it down. She noticed her stare was transfixed on it. It was so tempting... Tempting? Why am I staring at it? I'm not a cat. But... maybe just one whack... She snuck in and slapped the little twig once. That was fun! She batted it again and again, giggling like a child. "What are you doing here?" Another teacher walked in. "Oh! Um, Mr. Kenjuki! I... was just trying to take down this stupid catnip! Its an eyesore here in the teacher's lounge." Mrs. Usagi snatched it off the curtains and shoved it in her pocket. "Really? I thought it gave this place some life."   
"That's the problem! It gave it too much life! A teacher's lounge should be dull and drab and boring." She tried to make her excuse sound as authentic as possible. Mr. Kenjuki stared at her in confusion. "I have to go check in on one of my students. Bye!" she shuffled out the door and ran down the hall. The sooner she got to the nurse's office, the better! 

"I'm sorry, no one by that name has checked in." the nurse put down the clipboard.   
"Are you sure?" Mrs. Usagi questioned, "Jeri hasn't been here? You know, cute little girl, about this tall, has a sock puppet?"   
"Oh, her!? I haven't seen Jeri in a while. Sorry."   
Mrs. Usagi sighed. It's not like Jeri to ditch class. "One more thing."   
"Hmm?"   
"Where's the litter box?" Mrs. Usagi asked casually.   
"You're a cat owner, aren't you?" the nurse chuckled, "Just to remind you, you use the toilet. Your cat uses the litter box." Mrs. Usage smiled nervously and stepped out.   
First Takato attacks me. Then Jeri ditches class. I wonder if some virus is going around.   
She just hoped she hadn't caught it. Mrs. Usagi sighed. The kids were probably wondering where she was. Pulling the door open, she found a riot going on. One kid was dancing on top of the desk. Another was practicing karate on a math book. Paper airplanes flew in every which way. She could only stand in the doorway. They didn't even notice her! She slid the door closed and plopped down on the floor. Everyone's gone crazy! Even me! Catnip! Honestly! Come to think of it... She reached into her pocket and pulled the little snippet out. She just couldn't understand why it was so much fun! Mrs. Usagi played with the branch of catnip for a few minutes, then the bell rang. What bell was that? Lunch or dismissal or break? It didn't matter. As long as she had her catnip, everything would be fine!   
Mrs. Usagi calmed down as she continued to play with the catnip, so the students were acting strange. They ALWAYS acted strange when she didn't have her eyes on them. It wasn't bizarre in the least. That still left the question of Takato attacking her then vanishing (his parents had said he still hadn't come home) and now Jeri skipping class. But she guessed those could wait till later.   
"Mrs. Usagi?" she turned to see the door open, her whole class staring at her. "Umm... class dismissed?"   
"That was the afternoon break bell. What's with the catnip? And all that other stuff?" one boy asked. She struggled to think up an explanation. "Forget it! Just... go. Or I'll give you homework."   
"You already did! Math, page 103-117."   
"Wanna make it worse?"   
The kids gasped. "No, Mrs. Usagi! Sorry. Bye!" and they all marched out of class. Whew! Now that that's over I can get back to my precious catnip! Waitaminuite! The students don't normally leave the class for break! They just get 5 minutes free time! "Come back! All of you inside! NOW!"   
One turned his head back at her. "But you just said class dismissed."   
"I know what I said, and I know what I'm saying now! Get back inside." She pointed at the door.   
One kid quietly whispered to the other. "I think she's finally flipped."   
"I thought she was always flipped."   
"Heard that!" The teacher snarled.   
"I guess those ears aren't just for show." The child whispered again.   
"March in there before I find a cattle prong."   
"Isn't that abuse of the student body?"   
"What did I just say?"   
"Yes mam . . ."   
  
  
  


Kazu and Kenta were exhausted from running for so long. "Boys..." Jeri teased, "I thought guys could run faster and longer than girls."   
"Shut... up!" Kenta panted, "I have asthma!"   
"What's your excuse, Kazu?"   
"I... my backpack is heavy! And for the love of... can you PLEASE hide that tail! People are goanna notice!"   
Jeri pointed her tail and flicked Kazu on the nose with it just to spite him. "Make me!"   
"Break it up!" Kenta restrained Jeri from going at Kazu. "Lemmie go!"   
"Promise to concentrate on the goal?"   
"Fine!"   
Kenta released her. She lightly punched him on the arm and dashed off without them. "He, wait up!"   
"When did she start taking track!" The feathery bird moaned.   


"Crimson Claw!" Yamaki attacked from the sky again. Guilmon and Takato rolled out of the projectile's way. "Let's go! We can beat him!" Guilmon's eyes were silted. He was in battle mode! "Pyro Sphere!" Guilmon spat a fireball at the oncoming DeviDramon. "Oh, you want some too, DO YOU! Crimson Claw!" Yamaki slashed wildly at him. Takato leapt from the sidelines and tackled his partner out of harm's way. "What are you doing, trying to get us killed!?"   
"Bunny Blast!" a few small energy pellets bounced off the enraged demon dragon. He didn't even notice them! "Lee, you could help ya know!" Terriermon ordered. "I can't." Lee replied, "I don't know what Lopmon's attacks are."   
"Crimson Claw!"   
"Get out of the way!"   
Both Digimon glided out of attacking distance.   
"He's too strong!" Lee called back. Since when am I such a coward? This is what a Lopmon would do! Run away! I won't let it happen!   
"Ice Blast!" he spat a thin beam of ice right into one of Yamaki's eyes. That got his attention! How did I suddenly know my attack?   
It must have been the digimon part of him telling him what to do. Great! Lee Wong though. Of all the things I DID'T want to happen. He flew out of the way of another red energy attack. He knew Terriermon could beat this thing with the right cards. But Lee seriously doubted his digi-vice would recognize him now. It was having trouble why he was PART digimon, he doubted his D-Ark would resister him as the user at all now. The thing was designed to respond to a human's data, not a digimon's.   
"Can't . . . win . . " Takatomon said with gloom.   
"Don't say that, Takatomon! We can win! If we try." Guilmon encouraged. "You're right! Let's see..." Takato reached into his card pack. "This should do it!" He grabbed his Digivice.   
"Takato, wait! We don't know what effects using a card could have on..." Lee was too late. Takato already slashed the card through the reader.   
"DigiModify!   
Training Grips: ACTIVATE!"   
He waited. Nothing happened. His Digivice displayed an error message. "User unknown? Stupid thing!" he tossed it aside and decided a full out attack would be better. "Together! Pyro Sphere!" Takato launched a rather large fireball at Yamaki, hitting his black wings. The evil creature screamed out in pain and fell to the ground. "Wow, Takato! You're strong as a Digimon!" Guilmon congratulated his Tamer.   
"I always have been! Let's finish him!"   
By the time the two dinos had reached their fallen enemy, Lee and Terriermon were already there. "It's over..." Yamaki spoke as though he was on his deathbed, "...I failed. Now I pay the ultimate price. Absorb my data and be done with it." He lay there, defeated. "No. That's not the way it should be. It's inhuman." Lee replied.   
"You are not human. You are a Lopmon. Weak and pitiful."   
"Be that as it may, I refuse to kill you. Come on, get up. We can help you." Lee extended his hand in friendship. Yamaki stared for a while, then finally accepted. Lee's hand was tiny in comparison. Even if Yamaki was kind of small by DeviDramon standards.   
Yamaki only looked at them once, then flew off with a gust.   
"What was that all about." Said Terriermon.   
"Good question." Commented Lee. Then thunder struck. "Now where are we going to hide!" Lee shouted, "DeviDramon... I mean, Yamaki, destroyed Guilmon's lair!" Guilmon seemed to be depressed. "We'll find somewhere. Maybe. Even if we have to beg Rika to stay at her place."   
"There they are! Seize them!" a gruff, angry voice called from the distance. "Hmm?" Takato turned his head to see a policeman running their way. "Stop! You are under arrest!"   
"Run!" Lee climbed on Takato's back, while Terriermon did the same to Guilmon. "Hi-ho, Silver! Away!" both dinosaurs ran, at top speed, into the heavily wooded part of the forest. "Faster! Faster!" Lee riled, "I can hear him calling for backup!"   


Jeri waited for her friends to catch up. What takes them so long? While she was waiting, she reached into her bag and drew out a little gadget. It was in perfect condition. Did it repair itself or something? Suddenly, a bright spark ran along the blue rim of the screen, turning it golden yellow. Every single area of blue on the Digivice was turned yellow. "Wow. Awesome!" it was emitting a bright light from the screen. The light! It felt warm and comforting.   
"There you are! Do you not know what wait up means!?" Kazu shouted. She stuffed the Digivice in her bag.   
"I waited. Are you happy?"   
"Much . . . " Replied Kenta flatly.   
Jeri was about to race ahead of them more when she turned to them. "Uh look . . . sorry about how I talked to you guys before." The second she finished saying that a beeping came from her bag, curious, she opened it up in front of the boys. The screen read. 

NEW DATA ACCEPTED   
SAVING FILE   
FILE SAVED   
FILE LOCKED   
TRACKING ON-LINE 

The screen became a compass point right at . . . the park. And she bet Guilmon's place.   
"What the heck is that?" Said Kazu. "Looks kinda like the digivices from the TV show."   
Jeri sighed, no point in hiding it.   
"I found it yesterday after school. It was banged up and in an ally way."   
"Sure doesn't looked banged up to me."   
"I know! It fixed itself somehow, I don't know how."   
"Dude, do you know this means!" Kazu shouted jealously. "You're a Tamer!" he was wide-eyed. "I wonder who's your Digimon?" This struck Jeri. She thought Digimon was the greatest thing ever, but... did she really have what it took to be a Tamer? "No. This is some kind of mistake! It... it was blue!"   
"Blue? No it's not. It's yellow."   
"No, when I found it, it was blue. That meant it belonged to someone else!"   
"Well it's yours now."   
"Come on, we're almost to the park." Kenta urged them on. Both of the boys got in a running position, ready to keep up with Jeri. Much to their surprise, she just walked on ahead. "Erm... Jeri? Aren't you going to... you know, leave us eating your dust?"   
"No. Why would I? That would be rude." she replied innocently. The boys were dumbfounded. Girls. I'll never understand them. Kenta cautiously followed.   
"What's with you?" Said Jeri blinking at seeing their cautious altitude, though maybe it was just the fact the way they no longer looked exactly human.   
"No offence Jeri but . . . you were acting like the ice queen Rika, that girl who won the card tournament a while back."   
"She only won because Ryoh wasn't there to beat her."   
Jeri blinked at the yellow digivice. Could this be . . . no that was just too silly. She noticed the compass was moving.   
  


Pity Impmon had scared all the ducks away, though Calmon, they were almost as fun to watch as humans. The little humans never seemed to mind him. But the adults all ran away when they saw him. Calmon was still trying to figure out why that was. Like a blur with legs, Guilmon raced right past the child digimon, followed by . . . Guilmon? Calmon was confused. And why was the first Guilmon wearing what look like scraps of Takato's second skin? Next was Terriermon and . . . a brown Terriermon? Calmon hoped into their trail to make sure he hadn't seen things. He heard some clumsy sounds of people approaching and saw a couple of human in blue running right towards him. Calmon's ears went into their small size as he covered his head, the two humans ended up tripping on him and ending up with their faces in the dirt.   
"You playing tag?" Calmon asked ideally.   
"What the heck is that?" Said one of the cops to another seeing what had tripped them up.   
"I dunno, but it sure looks weird."   
"Sorry but I got to go now, bye." Said Calmon hoping off both cops too open mouthed to stop him. 

  


"Ok! I think we lost 'em!" Lee called to Takato. "I'm not a horse, you know. Get off!"   
"You would make a good one." Lee joked. He glided off his friend's back. Both dinosaurs collapsed to the ground. "I'm hungry! Takatomon, why did you make us run so fast?" Guilmon whined. Now that he had settled down, Takatomon realized he was hungry too! "There they are! Hurry! They can run like crazy!"   
"Nab 'em!"   
The group turned to see a whole squadron of police headed their way. "Run!"   
"Where!? We're trapped!" Terriermon wrapped himself in his ears. "You are both under arrest!" one officer put Takato in a submission. "Hmm? Takatomon!" Guilmon was restrained and handcuffed too! "You two are in violation of Area code 59771A, disturbing a police officer while eating donuts! Come on!"   
"Uh, sir? They're in violation of code 998.1, Small Business theft."   
"Whatever! Just take 'em in!" The whisked Takato into the back of their car. Guilmon, who put up much more of a fight, had to be hand/ankle cuffed before they finally tossed him in the car. "What about this stuffed toy, chief?" one of them asked, pointing to Lee. "Bring it with us. Might have some kind of evidence." He picked Lee up and tossed him in an evidence box. Then they drove off. "That's it. Sweep of the area?"   
"It wasn't a murder! There's no need. Let's go!" A female officer got into the driver's seat of their squad car. The other followed, only to trip on something. "What the... stupid rock!" he kicked Terriermon aside and got in. Once he was sure they were all gone, Terriermon unwrapped himself. "Rock, huh? Come back here and see what a rock can do to ya! Oh no. They stole Takato and Guilmon! And Lee!"   
"Perfect! Just perfect!" Mumbled Terriermon. Now what did he do? There was no way he could pull off a jailbreak on his own. That was if he even knew where they had taken the others in the first place.   


"Whao!" Said Kazu seeing the compass on Jeri's D-Ark spin. "I don't think this thing can make up its mind."   
"Whatever this thing is pointing to is moving." Deduced Jeri.   
"Uh . . . how long is this going to take?" Said Kenta. "I don't think my dad will hurt me too bad when he finds out I skipped class, but I do think he'll hurt more than a little if I don't come home at a decent hour. And what do I do when I show up looking like this!" 

Renamon looked at Rika or rather Rikamon, for all the world she acted, looked, and behaved as any tomboy kite digimon would. Could this of happened to the others? Maybe after seeing them I can figure out something for Rika.   
"Ri . . . Rika, come on, we're going. We need to see Guilmon."   
"What for?"   
"Just trust me."   
"Can you just stop taking the 'mon' off my name? I'm not a In-Training you know."   
One thing was becoming oblivious, Rika no more believed she had ever been human than if someone told Renamon, and if Renamon kept insisting without any proof to back her up, Rika was going to start thing her 'mother' had gone crazy. They said those mentally afflicted on occasion should be humored.   
"Fine, if that's you want, Rikamon."   
Renamon took a mighty leapt, only to see that her 'daughter' had already gotten a millisecond of a head start. Rika would make a good daughter. She acts as natural as any child kitsune should... Renamon forced the thought from her head. Why was such a choice placed before her? She knew Rika could be all hers. Easily. If she didn't tell her, Rika would think she's always been this way. Renamon saw a blur of golden yellow zip past her. Why?   
"If you want to really get somewhere." Said Renamon at Rika trying to think of something else. "Then stop wasting your time with fancy moves and just run!" The adult fox cytosine demonstrated by blasting ahead of her 'daughter', by laying low and keeping jumps to a minimum.   
Then she came to a screeching halt. "What's wrong, mom?" Rika asked, landing on a light post. She noticed Renamon's unchanging, awestruck gaze fixed on something. "What are you... oh no! What could have crushed a block of solid concrete!?" Rika worried. She was staring right at what was once Guilmon's lair. "I don't know. Come, let's look for them. Maybe there's a new Digimon somewhere."   
"Really! That'd be awesome! I get to go ballistic on its tail and absorb some new data! Wahoo!" the young kitsune bounced off the streetlamp. I suppose not even becoming a Digimon can stray Rika from her goal. Renamon mused over this. Wait! Her goal! Her dreams of being number one. Can it be!? Renamon inspected her Tamer. Yes, it is! Locked away somewhere in there is Rika. The human Rika! But how to make her surface...   
"Come on, mom! Maybe we'll find 'em! Guilmons are a blast to poke fun at!" Rika shifted out of view.   
No matter what.   
That of course had been Rikamon's reason for taking up battling. Not the childish pretend battles or the silly games she had played when she was younger. But real battle where defeat equaled death and victory was the life force of the enemy. To becomes the world's strongest. And in honesty . . . fighting was all she could say she was good at. Of course half the time she was reduced to watch and learn from her mother, she was an experienced battler and Rikamon was forced to admit she could learn from her, but their enemies often mocked that Rikamon was just along for the ride: that she had no fighting power of her own. She WOULD become the strongest, and prove them wrong. No matter how long it took. 

Meanwhile in the evidence locker at the police station, Lee was trying to smash his way though his container. 

And in a certain jail cell. . . . Hmm... the doors aren't strong. Takato noted. A good Pyro Sphere would tear it down. I guess if I get the chance... He waited. If he sensed even a moment of weakness, he knew he was home free. Home free? Home? Thinking of home reminded him of the shrine. But there was somewhere else... wasn't there? 

Jeri heard a slight click. The little arrow on the compass had disappeared. Before long, it reappeared, pointing in the direction of the park. "Over there." she told Kazu and Kenta. "I see something!" Kenta remarked. He was squinting into the bushes. "What is that!?" 

Rika swooped from branch to branch. As she passed a clearing in the leaves, she could see a small group of children. What were they doing here? One of them was looking right at her! Can he see me? No. Human vision is weak and nearsighted. They were approaching her. Rika leaned back on the branch, hoping they wouldn't notice her. 

"I think that creature is up there!" Kenta stared into the tree. "I can see its outline." Rika stood up and leapt from the tree. "Go away! I can defeat you all single-handed and absorb your data! Oh wait. Are you Digimon?" she asked them. "Digimon! Argh! Why didn't I see it before!?" Kazu moaned and hunched over. "What do you mean?" Jeri sweetly interrupted. "I mean we're becoming Digimon! Not just any anything, but... well..." The little gadget in Jeri's backpack was glowing. The boys weren't watching. She took it out of her bag and pointed it at Rika. "Wow. Cool!" instead of naming the creature Renamon, it called it Rika. The image was also that of a girl she had heard of. The 'Digimon Queen' wasn't it? "Hmm..." she aimed the Digivice at Kazu. The screen changed. It showed two images, one of human Kazu and one of a small green reptile called . . . .   
"Well, according to this you're becoming a Chamelemon."   
"Ugh, a stupid armor digimon? Why couldn't I of been an ultimate?"   
"Well . . " Said Jeri. "You got to admit it wouldn't make much sense, champion and beyond are digimon at their adult and most armor digimon's pre-evolutions are rookies or child so . . . in a weird way it makes sense."   
"What about me?" Kenta excitedly peeked at the Digivice screen. The image changed. "Owlmon. Hey, no wonder you have such good eyesight! And look! You're becoming a cute Digimon, too!"   
"Aptiva!" Kenta jumped back and blushed. You could see him turning red, despite his coat of feathers. "Oh... cyoot and cuddwy widdle Owlmon!" Kenta teased , laughing like crazy. "Shut up, lizard boy!"   
"At least I'll be able to turn invisible!"   
"No locker room will be safe!"   
They argued some more. Jeri sighed and turned back to Rika, who was trying to sneak away. "You know, I don't blame you." Jeri followed her, leaving both boys wrestling each other. "Help me find my mom. I think she's around here somewhere." Rika said calmly.   
"Your mom?" Said Jeri. Not sure what to make of it.   


Renamon searched the park. She couldn't see Rika anywhere, but figured she was just hiding. Down below, she spotted a strange looking rock. A strange looking moving rock! She landed as silently as the breeze. "Terriermon?"   
"Gah!!" he was shocked! "Don't do that! You scared half to death!"   
"My apology." she replied. "Where are the others?"   
"What happened? The boy in blue happened! They took Takato and the rest of the gang!"   
"They've been captured?"   
"Yea smart lady! Takato and Guilmon tried to pull a fast one at a fast food place earlier today and the police must have caught up them at last this after noon."   
"How did the old shrine get destroyed?"   
"You won't believe it! This Devidramon trashed it! And you want to know the REALLY weird thing? Takato's digivice did a scan . . it came out as some human named Yamaki!"   
"You're kidding."   
"I'm not, I'm not . . . . where's miss ice queen?"   
" . . . Rikamon went off search for the others on her own when she saw the shrine destroyed."   
"Rikamon? You don't mean she . . . you know."   
"She thinks she's been a digimon all her life. Her memories have changed to suit her body . . . she thinks I'm her mother."   
"She thinks your her . . ha ha ha ha! Guess it would be incest now huh?"   
Renamon kicked him hard, only his ears kept him from sailing away as Impmon had when Rikamon kicked the little devil.   
"Hey I was only joking . . . "   
"It WASN'T funny! Just because you love someone doesn't mean you want to go to bed with them!"   
"Well sor-ry! You didn't have to kick me!"   
"Its not good to bottle up stress."   
"Momentai, Renamon."   
Renamon turned his nose up and started wondering why they were wasting time here anyways.   
"Whatever come' on, let's find Rika and locate the others."   
"Do you know where the city jail is?"   
" . . . No . . . but it shouldn't be that hard to figure out. Now come on, Rika wouldn't have wandered off that far."   
"This is the bit- I mean ice queen Rika we're talking about right?"   
"Slip up on that word again and I'll smash you head in and download you before you can blink weather I like having you as a part of me or not."   
"Some women just can't handle stress." He left out asking her another question related to the calendar date in a wise decision that he didn't want to die that day.   
"Be quite . . . when Rika woke up this morning she seen . . . different. On one hand she acts like Rika on the other hand she's more . . . childish."   
"In other words the way a ten year old girl SHOULD act instead of being a cold blooded fighter egar(sp) to kill any and all digimon in her path?"   
"You're on the line Terriermon, be careful."   
"I'm just stating a fact. We BOTH know that Rika's not the most nice person on the planet, and she acts like someone twice her age. And . . . she seems to of forgotten how to enjoy life."   
" . . . . When she got up this morning, she actually played a practical joke on me. Rika. But the way she handled Impmon when we ran into him is how she would of acted on him if she had the power before she changed."   
"Maybe growing fur made her lose her spiked shell."   
Renamon didn't sigh this time, she simply nodded.   
"Come' on." She stretched out her hand for Terriermon to climb on. "You gliding can't keep up with him so hang on."   
"Whao!" Said Terriermon as she took off at blinding ground speed. If she was still in the park, they would find Rika in a second. 

The final bell rang. Thank God! "Class dismissed. Mrs. Usagi announced. Her students rushed past her. Dreading to look back into her ravaged classroom, she slid the door closed. "The janitor will fix it. She noticed that, in the rush, she had dropped her catnip. "Aaargh!" she slid the door open and searched. "Where... where! Maybe one of 'em stole it!" She ran outside and inspected every kid on the playground. I'll go crazy without my catnip! "Huh?" Mrs. Usagi stopped. Why was she so obsessed with a stupid little branch? She had no clue. It was just an urge.   
She was just tired . . . she went to her car. The day was done and she didn't have any at schoolwork to do and she could grade the kid's work at home. 

The police hadn't really done much searching on either digimon. So Takatomon still had his drawings, he had figured out how to hold a pencil between his claws, and then remembered doing it all his life. He thought of his mother, the image of a female V-dramon (I think that's the right name) popped into his head, and he didn't find anything wrong with it.   
Not that he thought about it much. He was working furiously at his drawings. Those spikes on the back had to go. Some white hair really worked, the 'hazard' sign moved to the face, some black and red bracelets just for style . . . .   
Now if only I had some colored pencils... Takato looked all around his cell, half hoping to find a box.   
Then Takatomon remembered, after some clumsy digging in the rags of his jeans he found them, a red and yellow pencil he kept for emergencies. Problem solved, he began coloring in the drawing. Now what were good A and B attack names?   


Flames, comments, suggestions, and ideas on what should happen next all welcome.   
anyone know the names of Lee's other siblings?   



	5. Reactivation

Seems my pre-reader vanished into thin air. So I guess it's back to the old fashioned way. 

As you know, this was written by both me AND Aaron Max and the latest name of our now defunct third writer is Zentillion Metalla, I think our writing styles are different enough that you can tell us all apart easily. If I forgot anyone, just say so. 

Oh yea, I at long last fixed the spelling in the title and summery. (why didn't any of you mention it?) 

I have the strength to start doing the italic again. (you'd be surprised how hard it is to go through this entire thing add them all over again)

Thanks Crazy Cham Lea for the right spelling of 

"kitsune", pronounced kee-tsoo-nay.

Note I lost the improved version of the gang fight I was given some time ago when my computer died. Sorry. 

This thing is a day late due to me adding in some stuff that ISN'T in the MB version. Enjoy. 

~ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

While trying to think of A and B moves for Guilmon's adult form Takatomon noted the blade on his creation's arms. The gears turned in his head as he looked at the drawing. "Maybe some kind of energy attack with those..." He drew an arrow to the unnamed Champion's upper limbs. 

"Riley... I, er..." Tilley was terrified. Trying to back up only to realize she was up against a wall of the parking garage. Her feathers stood on ends. "Please don't . . . your wouldn't!" She whimpered. Her friend was literally flaming mad and was obviously ready to kill her at any second, those yellow cat eyes narrowed on her and her alone, Riley's intent: clear. "HELP!!!" Tilley screamed. 

Riley Ootori sneered at her. "No one can hear you down here!" The most basic side of her taking over, Riley charged claws forwards into her co-worker. 

A few seconds later, a powerful glass-shattering scream shook the twin Hynos towers. 

- A scream that was abruptly cut off. -

Jeri looked at the kitsune-mana next to her, then again at the yellow D-Ark in her own hand.

"You're Rika Nonaka**,** 'Digimon Queen' aren't you?" Jeri asked, her tail wrapping itself around one of her legs as she held the D-Power tightly.

Rikamon laughed. "Heh, yea that's me, pretty silly nick name slash title for winning some child's game they called a tournament huh? And don't take the 'mon' off of my name, it's bad enough my mom does it."

Jeri looked at her. And wondered and feared that the change wasn't just physical. 

"What the crashing trash file?!" Exclaimed Terriermon seeing two of the most bizarre digimon he had even seen, or . . . he thought they were digimon, or where they humans in get ups? He couldn't tell even as he glided closer to them from where he had spotted them in the air with Renamon. 

Renamon snorted at Terriermon language then recognized the outfits of the two . . . whatever . . .

"Four Megas of East, West, North and South." She swore. It . . . it couldn't be. "Help us all." 

Whatever had turned Rika into a Digimon wasn't satisfied with just her. It was transforming other children into Digimon too! She recognized the clothing as humans from Takato's school earlier. Renamon wondered if this force had any affect on natural Digimon. Before she could ask what they knew, her sharp eyes picked up a yellow form a short distance away, equally sharp eyes picked her up as well. 

"Mom!" Rikamon shouted. She leapt up and wrapped her arms around Renamon as she landed from her massive leap. 

"..." She was stunned. No one had ever hugged her in such a long time. 

"Wow! Look! It's another one!" Kazu gasped pointing. Renamon noticed another human who was changing as well who had been near Rika, though except for her tail there seemed to be no change to her.

Jeri pointed the Digivice at Renamon. It showed a Digimon, not a human. So she must have been a Digimon all her life. 

Jeri was amazed. "Wow. A real life Digimon." 

Jeri's tail fell limply as she looked at the fox kitsune. She read from the Digivice holo-display that came up automatically.

"Renamon, rookie level, data type, a shadow digimon, this shape shifting fox can appear as a shade on the wall or a whisper on the wind. A attack Diamond Storm. B attack Wisteria Punch." 

Renamon blinked she looked at the D-Ark. "You . . you're a Tamer? . . . Who's your partner?" 

"I . . . don't have one." 

"Sorry, not interested." Remarked Rikamon.

"I just found this thing yesterday. It isn't even really mine." She explained. There were a thousand things both sides wanted to ask and say, Takato, this bizarre change, all of it blurred together into confusion.

'What do you mean you found?"

"Did you know where a friend of mine Takato is?"

"Is that thing really the great Rika Nonaka?"

"Whoa, maybe Takato wasn't faking it after all."

"You just figured that out?"

"I live by plausible denial." 

"What do you mean thing?"

"Well, I found it lying on the ground while I was walking home after school yesterday." Jeri explained.

Terriermon took one look at each side and wrapped himself in his ears, maybe he would just sleep until they had finished working things out.

"I lost my Digivice just yesterday. May I see it?" Jeri handed Rikamon her D-Arc without hesitation. She looked it over and shook her head. "No, this is not mine. Mine was blue." Jeri was struck silent. She didn't understand, why would it change color when it repaired itself just to realign itself from Rika? Or rather from the looks of things, what was left of Rika.

"Rika where were you? You could have been lost!" Renamon was furious.

"Wow, she just used her C attack: Mom of Death!" 

Renamon was struck. Try as she might, it was all too easy to be a parent to Rika. It was happening naturally. 

"Well..." Jeri wondered whether or not to tell her the little gadget had changed color. "Well what?"

"Well... um... what are these things called again?"

"Digivices. They allow a Tamer to swipe cards to modify their Digimon." Rikamon remembered swiping a few cards through her own Digivice. _Wait! If I could use cards, who was I modifying?_ "Aarrg!" she grabbed her head. It was like an anvil being pounded! "Rika!" Renamon rushed to her side. Jeri's Digivice was glowing. _Please don't turn blue, please don't turn blue, please don't turn blue!_ Jeri silently willed it to stay golden yellow.

She looked at the withering fox kitsune holding her skull as if it was going to split in two.

Jeri looked at the D-Ark in sudden anger.

_Stop causing her pain! _

"Rika, are you ok?" even Kazu and Kenta stepped in to make sure she was alright. "Stop it!" Jeri order. The Digivice glowed brighter and brighter. "I said... STOP!!" Jeri screamed. The Digivice was shaking now and Rikamon passed out. The Digivice went into stand-by, it's programming considerably altered by Final Answer and two human's data in it's memory instead of one. 

Rika's eyes blinked open. Had she been dreaming? Rika sat up. "Wh... where am I?" she noticed her arm was covered in fur. "Aaargh! It's not a dream! It's a nightmare!" 

"What's your problem?" Kazu was careful not to sound rude. 

"I've turned into a Renamon and you're asking me what my problem is!" Rika was too angry to wonder how three kids she had never met before looked like half-digimon. 

"So what? I'm turning into a Chameleomon!" 

_Only one person could speak like that!_ Renamon's eyes were glimmering with hope. "Rika!" she kneeled down and hugged her Tamer. "You remember!" Deep down inside, she felt like she had lost another child. But the feeling of pure joy eclipsed the sadness. 

"Did I... do that?" Jeri stared deeply into the black screen of her D-Arc.

"Renamon can you stop hugging me? It's embarrassing." Rika said agitated. Renamon forced herself to let go.

"How much do you remember?" Renamon asked.

" . . . It's like a dream." Rika said distantly. "Everything is completely real while you're asleep. You only realize it isn't real once you wake up . . . . " Rika moaned. "I have two memories in my head. One I KNOW is real. And the one another part of me keeps SAYING is real." She showed her paws face up. "This body doesn't help."

"You remember now, that's all that's important."

Rika eyed her. "Renamon . . . what you said about that kite you lost. Was that story true?"

"Yes."

Rika was hesitant; she wasn't good at this sort of thing. "It must have been . . . difficult trying to make me remember."

_More than you might ever know. _"You . . . you're my Tamer, it was my duty."

"T-thank you."

"What a Kodak moment." Said Kenta reminding everyone the other kids were there.

"Shut up." Rika said darkly.

Renamon messed up Rika's head fur. "That's my-"

Rika glared at her. "Don't ever do that again."

Renamon lowered her head. "Sorry." 

Beneath her emotional spiked shell however Rika thought_. For what it's worth Renamon. . . . If I could chose a mother. It would be you. _Her pride prevented her from saying it outsold.

"Now that you're back to your famous cold blooded self." Kenta ignored the death look Rika gave him. "Can you help us answer a simply question?"

"What?" She said annoyed. Renamon sighed. Rika had put her spiked shell back on indeed. Why couldn't she have love and compassion and her true self? Why did it have to be either/or?

"Why the heck are we turning into creatures from a card game!" The boy exclaimed to the world.

Terriermon unwrapped himself. "You guys still talking all at once?" He looked at Renamon. "Was that your little girl screaming bloody murder?" 

"Watch it buddy! I don't know if I can absorb data or not but don't tempt me to find out!" Said Rika stepping foreword.

"You back to normal?" Said Terriermon surprised.

Jeri meanwhile was looking at her Digivice still. Her Digivice. Yea right. _If you're her's then why did you change your markings when I touched you? Why? . . . . . Am I just a go between for? I am an idiot and fool for thinking I was worthy to be a Tamer like Takato? _Jeri didn't know what she would get for her answer.

"Oh . . . where are they?" Calumon staggered to the destroyed shrine, his ears completely retracted. "They're not here . . . ." The child digimon mumbled as he stumbled onto the floor of the undestroyed opening. The red up side down triangle on his forehead was flashing the pattern of a heartbeat. "I don't feel so good . . . " He moaned. He felt like a part of him was gone. Like there was less of him somehow. But that didn't make sense. He felt slightly better than he did a while ago, but he still felt worse than when he had been caught in that blast between those two battling digimon just before he came to the physical world. He closed his eyes. "Please . . . . why am I feelings this way?" The In-Training entered a deep, dreamless sleep. It didn't stay that way for long.

"Takatomon." Said Guilmon looking over his partner's shoulder as he finished the details on the attack: Dragon Slash. "Where am I going to live now? My home got smashed."

Takatomon didn't miss a beat. "You can live with me."

"But didn't you say that you're parents would be scared of me?"

"Why should they? We look almost exactly alike."

"But . . . you not always look this way."

"Guilmon stop being silly, of course I've always looked this way."

"No you haven't."

Takatomon was confused. "I think I would know my own life, Guilmon." 

"You would. But whatever turned you into a big me did the same to everyone else. They think differently too."

Takato stopped to think about it for a second. Then he continued his drawings. Thinking so hard hurt his head. 

"Errnn! Ugh!" Lee collapsed back onto the floor of his box. The lid was covered by something heavy. "I gotta get out of here!" he frantically looked for another way. The little holes on the side (cheap box) were too small for him to fit through. He was getting claustrophobic. "I am getting out of here. NOW! Ice Blast!" he spat a tiny pellet of ice at one of the box's walls, clearing a hole through it. "Yes! I'm free! Free!" he danced around in the open air of the evidence room. Lee never used to be afraid of enclosed spaces before. Maybe it was the Lopmon side of him. No! No, being in a little box in a dark room is enough to get anyone nervous. "Maybe I should go find Takato. They probably locked him up, so I'll need a plan. Hrrm ..."

"Maybe I should go look around and depend on the police staring open mouthed, not doing anything when they see me. Nay, police aren't that stupid." Lee looked around the evidence room and realized something. A jump on one of the shelves and a pull and turn confirmed his fears. "Great. It's lock from the other side! . . . . Momentai Lee . . . Momentai . . ."

Lee looked everywhere. There had to be another way out! 

"An air vent! Perfect!" he hovered over and pulled at the aluminum grill. It was times like this he wished Lopmon were just a little stronger. It was fastened too tightly! 

"Oh, what the heck. This is a situation! Ice Blast!" Lee blasted a hole right through the barrier and dashed in. "Now, to find Takato." The ventilation system was the perfect size for a creature so small! He guessed there were some advantages to this body, then again, if not for whatever had changed him and the others he wouldn't be in this situation in the first place! He moved though the ventilation system, going though spider webs of long dead arachnids. Now all he had to do was figure out how to find Takato and Guilmon.

"You hear that?" Said the cop hearing the banging sounds from inside the walls.

"Probably just rats. Turn on the fans, that otta shut'em up." Said the guy behind the desk.

"Right." The first cop replied flipping a near by switch.

"What's that buzzing?" Lee could hear something. Suddenly, there was a huge gust of wind blowing him down. He drove his tiny claws into a floor of the vent. His ears were flapping madly in the hurricane-scale breeze. "Can't... hold... on!" he was starting to loose his grip! Finally, it was too much and he let go. "Arghhhh!" He bounced from side to side to side of the vent, about ready to loose consciousness. Then, there was a loud clanging sound and a thump and he was on solid ground. He lay there for a moment, trying to recover from his wild ride. 

"Where am I?" he saw that he was in a huge room with rows of cells. "There they are!" he could see Guilmon and Takato in a cell a few cells ahead of him, to the left. Now how to get them out?

Thankfully as fate would have it the only persons in the other cells were a couple of drunks. 

"Hey fellas. Am I glade to see you." Said Lee racing on his tiny legs to the dinosaurs the echoing jailhouse. The set up would have actually been kinda funny, if the situation itself wasn't so serious. 

"Lee!" Said Guilmon sticking his head though the bars. 

"It's nice to see you too Guilmon." Lee looked around. _Okay Lee how do we get out here? Going though the front door will get us shot. And even if we did we'd be easy to spot, or rather Takato and Guilmon would be. I'm betting my Ice Pellets could take off these hinges, and the dino twins could blow the wall out. But we're bound to get attention. Great. Looks like we're in a corner. _He noticed Takato was totally immersed in whatever he was drawing.

"Takato!" Lee almost shouted before remembering where they were. 

Takato took a few second to finish some details before looking up.

"Hello Leemo-, I mean Lee." 

_At least he remembers me asking him not to add 'mon' to my name. But still . . . how are we going to get out of here? Better question. How are we going to get out of here without getting caught again? And how are we going to get out of here without being tracked? It won't take long for them to figure out Takato and Guilmon aren't wearing costumes. I don't want to imagine what going to happen after that. _

"Takato." Said Lee. "Do you have a Digi-Port card in your deck?" It was a long shot.

"Sorry no why?"

"I guess it wouldn't of helped anyway, it's not like we have a computer here anyway, and I don't know if it would work like that with the D-Ark anyway. Or that they would still work for us at all."

"Erm... how about this?" Takato drew a card from his deck. "Bomb Blast? Erm... anything less violent?" Lee chuckled. "Well... I have a few arena cards and this Hyper Wings... oh here! Look! Invisible Dome! How's that?"

Lee couldn't have asked for a better card. "Great! Let's get out of here! Wait!" He raised his ear so he could gather the distant sound together. Someone was coming! "Hide!" Lee leapt through the bars and pretended to be a pillow. A policeman walked by tapping the bars barely even looking at them. 

"Look. He has keys! Do you think he has the one to our cell?" Guilmon pondered after he was a good distance away (Guilmon may have been inexperienced in the world but not witless). 

"One way to find out." Lee hopped back through the bars and stepped quietly after the officer. Only a few... more... inches... He snagged the keys! "Ye..." he clamped his tiny hand over his mouth. It was hard keeping a shout from erupting out of his mouth. He guard looked behind but missed the short Lopmon totally. Shrugged and walked off.

"What the hell?" one of the other inmates was staring at Lee. "Umm... I am only a figment of your imagination." he clambered off. "Look what I have!" 

"Leemon! Good work!" Takato shouted.

"A bit louder, why don't ya?" he sarcastically replied. Lee climbed up the bars and placed the key in the hole and turned it once. There was a buzz and the door slid open. "Cool!" both dinosaurs cautiously stepped out. "Ok, here we go!" Takato spun the card.

"DigiModify!

Invisibility Dome: ACTIVATE!" 

Nothing happened! They were still completely visible! "Maybe I did it wrong." Takato spun the card again.

"DigiModify!

Invisibility Dome: ACTIVATE!" 

Still nothing! What was wrong. "Oh no! It's not working! Now what?"

"What does 'User unknown' mean?" Takato was reading the words scrolling across the screen.

Lee knew exactly what it meant. 

"It looks like it doesn't know you're human anymore."

"What do you mean humon?"

Lee shook his head. He rested his case. Too bad he didn't have his D-Arc with him, maybe it would still work with him.

Clip. Clop. Clip. "Oh no! That guard is coming this way again!" Lee whispered. He could hear him coming!

"What do we do?" 

"Back in the cell!" Lee curled up and tried to mimic a pillow while Guilmon laid on the bed with him. Takato slid the door closed, but made sure it didn't lock on them. He sat back down and pretended to be drawing. The guard came by again and placed a tray on the floor of the cell. It was a meager sandwich and a glass of water! As soon as he walked off, both dinosaurs growled at each other for possession of the snack.

"Nothing comes between a Digimon and his food, huh?" Lee commented. After a few minutes, Guilmon backed down and Takato ate their lunch in one bite. "Ok, now let's go!" Lee opened door again. "Obviously, you can't get out through the vent. You guys are too big for that. Hmm..." Lee looked for some other way out. 

"I smell food!" Guilmon rumbled. He and his partner marched carelessly down the hall and turned the corner.

"Hey! Wait! What are ya tryin' to do? You'll get caught!" He found both of them inspecting a large cart. 

"No food. I guess it just smells greasy." Guilmon announced. 

"You're a genius! Do you know what this is!?" Lee exclaimed. Both dinosaurs gave him a deer-in-the-headlights sort of gaze. "I guess not. It's a laundry cart! We can get out through here! We just need to dump out all these clothes and we'll all fit!" he began ripping the uniforms from the cart and tossing them aside. 

"I like digging." Guilmon joined in. 

"I'll keep watch!" Takato volunteered.

"Just don't get distracted by any shiny objects." Lee joked. 

Guilmon quickly dumped the collection of doughnut stained police uniform on the floor and hopped in (at the last moment being smart and doing a quick hiding job of the discarded uniforms). Lee hopped it could hold all their weights.

"Now what?" Guilmon asked. 

"My foot is falling asleep!" Takato complained.

"Keep it down! Aha! Here comes someone now!"

A tired old lady passed by and wheeled their card off. "Yeah! We're moving!" Lee ducked back under their blanket of clothes. "We should be out of here in no time!"

The three digimon waited in darkness, while, semi-darkness, Guilmon's eyes gave off an eerie yellow and red light that made Lee shiver. 

"Are we there yet?' Said Guilmon.

Both digimon shushed him at the same time. Several minutes later they stopped suddenly. Then they were tilted on the side. The next thing they knew they were going down a metal chute. Lee tumbled over and over in the reflective darkness for about ten seconds, sure he was going to get bruises before this was all over. Sudden he stopped and hit something hard, and then got hit by something harder. 

"I'm stuck!" Said Takatomon in distress. Lee meanwhile was getting crushed by the weight of Guilmon on top of him. 

"Just perfect." Lee moaned. "Why did you have to make Guilmon so big?"

"Rookies are always too small, I thought I'd look better this way."

Lee felt another stab of fear. He said 'I'. 

"Takato."

"Yes Lee?"

" . . . . Nothing." They had more pressing matters than Takato's mind slipping. Like getting out of their steel prison. "We need to get moving again."

"Let me push." Suggested Guilmon, and he did, was smooshing Lee.

"Stop!" Lee yelled. "I'm getting crushed! At least me get out of the way first." The dog/rabbit squeezed out between the two dino, then realizing that a pair of reptiles, actually smelled better than a bunch of police uniforms. 

"Okay now, one, two, three, push!" Guilmon actually did most of the pushing on his larger self, Lee just tried not to get in the way. 

Finally Takato broke free, and all three started to tumble down again.

What was taking them so long? Thought Larry stands at the side of the laundry truck. That load should have been here two minutes ago. Oh well, he was getting paid by the hour. He heard a large rubbing sound and the uniforms came crashing in, he sweared he saw some red and brown mass go in with it, maybe he should, naw, he was paid to move the stuff, not check to see what it was. Maybe they had some giant stuffed animal they wanted to have washed or something. 

Not really paying attention he closed the back of the laundry truck and placed the canvas over it to keep the laundry from flying out. As he walked to the truck's cabin he heard the drape open, he quickly checked to see it had opened up. Ugh. Couldn't this thing stay closed? He closed it up again and drove off without any further problems.

"What now?" Asked Guilmon. 

"Let's go home." Takatomon moaned in his now natural Guilmon voice. 

"You saw it. It was demolished." Pointed out Lee.

"Not Guilmon's home. My home."

"Takato your own mother screamed and ran away when she saw you."

"She . . . did?" Takatomon scratched his head, he remembered that happening, but, it didn't really seem important somehow.

"The cops are going to be looking for two people in red dinosaur costumes." Lee was thinking out loud, "So we need to disguise ourselves."

"How?" Takato asked. "Guilmon, get out of there!"

He pulled his Digimon's tail from the garbage bin. "Look what I found!" he was holding a box of pizza with a few slices left. "Mine!" both Guilmons growled at each other. "Sigh." Lee approached them, stole the box and scarfed down a few slices before they noticed. "Yum!"

"Hey! That's _our_ pizza!

Lee's brain clicked as he realized what he had just done and vomited the two other digimon just watching seeing him vomit their food.

"Are you two CRAZY? You want to get hookworms?!!"

"What's a hookworm?"

"You don't want to know." 

"Well, now what, genius?" A sarcastic Takatomon. This was a rarity. 

"Now... we have to... we have to, erm..." Lee wasn't sure. 

"Hey, look! It's that funny weird thing that always drives by the park." Guilmon pointed his claw out of the alley. There, stopped to pick someone up, was one of the few busses left in the city that had almost forsaken road way public transportation. Just about everyone used the subway. "Well, isn't that convenient?" Lee said. "We can't just get on the bus. We're on the run and they're sure to notice us!"

"Follow my lead." 

While the bus was stopped, Takato crawled up onto its roof. He then hoisted Guilmon up, and Lee, who was holding onto the dino's tail. The bus gave a shudder and started moving.

"Just stay low. I can't believe it! Now we can get home! I better warn... oh dear God." Lee was petrified.

"What's wrong?"

"What if we infected our family too!?"

"Aren't our parents Digimon too?"

"NO! They're humons... Humans! And we were too! Takato, don't lose yourself! Focus!" 

"Erm..." at that moment, the bus passed under a street lamp. Guilmon and Lee were clinging to the roof of the bus, but Takato was not. He was knocked unconscious by the metal post. 

"Aw, come on!" Lee said at fate, letting go, allowing his ears to fan out. "Are you okay?" he was worried. Takato wasn't moving. "He still has a pulse, he just got KO'd... by a streetlight!" He burst out laughing.

"I don't get it." Guilmon was being thick and childlike, as usual.

Lee just shook his head at Guilmon, thankfully the railing would keep the unconscious Takato from flying off the edge. Lee took hold of the railing and began his mental chant again.

_My name is Lee Wong. Digimon Tamer. I am a human being trapping in a Digimon's body. _Lee viciously remembered every detail of his human face, he would not forget, he wouldn't! 

Lee realized something, should he go check on his own family and leave the dino twins to fend for themselves or stay with them and watch the chaos when Takato tried to get back inside his house. Then again, they weren't likely to last long without him. 

After all the proper introductions were made Jeri clutched the Digivice hard. Why didn't it answer her? Was it mocking her? Or simply stupefied by her foolishness? Then again, maybe it was just a dumb machine unable to answer. She looked at the boys. Would they reveal what she had told them about it being blue before? Or were they fixated on the idea that it was her's now?

Jeri felt her insides being ripped apart. And it didn't have anything to do with her change. It was torture. The Digivice was Rika's but . . . why had it changed color when Jeri had held it? Was it because Rika had forgotten? What now that she remembered? Agh! She couldn't take it anymore!

"Rika!" Said Jeri quickly getting attention. "This is YOUR Digivice, I found it trashed yesterday! It changed color a while before we ran into you!" She shoved the Digivice in her fur-covered hands. Rika took a step back, her . . . her Digivice had changed color? Why . .. was it because . . . she wasn't human anymore? Because a digimon couldn't be a Tamer? So it had decided to become Jeri's instead? . . .

"Hmm..." Rika let out a cold, callous little laugh. "Digivices don't just change their user. They were given to the Tamer by destiny. They belong to them and them alone. Nice try." She handed Jeri's Digivice back. 

"But..." Jeri stopped herself. Maybe it was better if Rika didn't believe her. She clipped it to her backpack strap. That's when she noticed Kenta staring at her Digivice. "What?"

"Oh, it's nothing." Jeri got the impression of want and jealousy. 

"So why are you here, anyway?" Rika was back to normal alright. 

"You know I think I liked her better when she thought she was a digimon." Kazu whispered to his friend. 

Rika looked at them hard and snarled. "What did you say?"

"You heard us?"

"Hello?" She pointed at her fox ears. 

"Oh." The boys said together. 

"You were saying?" Said Rika.

"Well, your . . . the Digivice was pointing me in this direction and we've been following it since this afternoon. This thing can't seem to make up its mind on what it's pointed to though."

"Hey! Maybe some of Rika's residue data was affecting Jeri and that explains her weird mood swing today."

"When did you start using your brain?"

"Saw something like it on TV."

"Or maybe it was trying to make Jeri more like the owner it missed."

"It's a Digivice, not Sauron's Ruling Ring from Lord of the Rings."

"Just stop it." Said Rika. "My D-Ark wouldn't just change colors. So you came here because the thing was directing you here?"

"Pretty much." A very chilling thought crossed Rika's mind, what if Jeri's Digivice had been pointing at her? What if she was supposed to become Jeri's par . . . NO! She would never accept that answer! Never! There had to be another reason! There had to be! After all, Calumon didn't have a partner. She was not a digimon! She just looked like one! 

_If it looks like a duck, walks like a duck, quacks like a duck- _

"No!" Rika slammed a fist into a fortunately near-by rock (otherwise she might of sent it into Jeri) the stone cracked under the force. No one breathed. Rika realized her hand was sore, she pulled it back and rubbed it in hopes of smoothing the pain, now she understood why her partner wore gloves.

Renamon spoke flatly. "The key is to stop your hand just as you hit. That way the force doesn't back wash on you and goes though the target and not you."

"Thank you so very much." Rika said darkly.

Kenta folded his arms. "Okay, that's it, I've just witnessed more melodrama and plot twists in the last five minutes than two seasons of soap operas, pluck and serve me, I'm done."

This was perfect Jeri thought, not only had she stumbled in the middle of things, but she was still no closer to finding Takato.

"Oh . . . whatever!" Snarled Jeri at everyone and everything around her. "Do you know where Takato and Guilmon are or not!"

Terriermon sweat dropped and thought of a good direction to run before speaking. "Well, they sorte got arrested."

Jeri's eyes and mouth went wide open. (Terriermon noted her normal human teeth) "What!"

"Well, they tried to pull a fast one at a burger place and got caught. They took Guilmon, Takato, and Lee with them. That's the last I saw of them this afternoon."

Jeri turned, her tail stiff, and she began to run.

"Jeri? Where ya going?" Kenta shouted.

"I'm going to see Takato and Guilmon!"

"Wait!" shouted Kazu, "They won't just let you into jail to see them!" 

"He's in jail not the state penitentiary!" Snarled Jeri in a tone like she had used that after noon but with a different cause. "Besides, it's the only thing we can do."

The boys looked at each other, she was right. "I'll beat you there." Said Rika jumping ahead.

"How do you know the way there?" Said Jeri crossing her arms and stopping as Rika jump besides her. 

"I was part of a group called, 'Scared Straight' you do the math." Replied Rika before racing off ahead of them.

"I'll make sure she doesn't do anything rash." Explained Renamon racing after her, already gaining.

Jeri sighed, she knew the way there due to a field trip that by chance took them past the dark building. "Come on, if we want to met up with them some decent time after they get there we might as well start now." She started walking.

Kenta scratched his head (or tried to) and looked at his hands. His hands now had feathers on them. When had he gotten those? This change wasn't stopping for plot twists, he looked ahead, Jeri already getting a good lead, and neither was Jeri.

**Mitsuo** Yamaki stared blankly at the busy city. Even though the sun was setting (and thus relieving him of lots of pain) he was deep in thought. _I've become that which I sought to destroy. How ironic._ He sat far above the city, on a lonely cliff edge where he had been most of the day. _Maybe I can find a cure. I created this virus! I can fix this bug in the program!_ He spread his wings and flew off with direction and purpose. _I wonder where Tilley and Riley are. I'll need them to help me. I won't let my mission to save this world from digimon end like this! I won't! _

After several minutes of flying Yamaki flew in low into the Hynos building, he was seriously going to have to tell security they need to tighten things up if a giant digimon cut get into the building with no one noticing. The parking lot was dim much to his relief. He smelled someone familiar. 

"Reilly? Tilley?" He said, his eyes able to see normally in the dark parking garage.

"Tilley is dead." Reilly's voice said in a dead tone. Yamaki turned to see Reilly just standing there, her head down. In spite of the talon marks that remained from her fight with Tilley, her now nude form still reminded Yamaki of a feline fire goddess. 

"She's... what? I don't understand." Yamaki stood frozen in place. 

"Well, she... the betting pool, and so annoying..."

"WHAT HAPPENED!" his voice was a lot more forceful that time. 

"I... killed her. And, well, you know how those monsters can absorb the others' data?"

"Yes."

"She turned into this... this bird woman. I killed her and loaded her data."

Yamaki's eyes turned glowing red again. "IDIOT!" He backhanded her through one of the walls. "Now who will operate Hypnos!! She was valuable to our cause!"

"And what would that be?" Riley snorted, "We can't just track those monsters anymore. We _are_ the monsters."

"Don't tell me what I know! Get up! Now!"

He dragged his half-dead co-worker from the debris and carried her to the elevator. "Hypnos is the key! I know there's a cure! There has to be!"

Jaunyu hugged his smallest child of four offspring, trying to bring any comfort he could, whatever was deforming his daughter showed no signs of stopping. She just continued to cry. Jaunyu was already worried about how he was going to present this horror to his wife. 

"It's okay honey. We'll just keep you home from school for a few days. Maybe it'll go away."

"It didn't for Lee!" Suzie choked. She had the bizarre thought of being covered in fur and looking like Terriermon. "Brrrrrr..." It scared her.

"Maybe I should call the doctor..." Mr. Wong, doing his best to still hold his daughter, picked up the phone and dialed someone. "Yes, I'd like to schedule an appointment. Ok. As soon as possible!"

Kazu and Kenta had no choice but to follow Jeri. "Man *whoo* she's fast! She may be... back to normal inside, but *gasp* she's way faster than you or me!" Kenta was already out of breath. "Come on, dude! Keep up!" 

"Gimmie a break! I have asthma!" 

Kazu sighed and waited for his friend to take a breath from his inhaler. 

"I... um, what do I look like?" Kazu asked. 

Kenta looked at him. "What do you mean?"

"How far along are the changes?" 

"Well, you're green. And your fingers are kinda long. I think your eyes are popping out too."

"Ugh. I must look like Gex, minus the tail."

"What do I look like?"

"You're covered in feathers, your nose and mouth kinda look like a beak..."

"Get moving! Rika and Renamon are already there!" Jeri's voice echoed through the streets. Kenta got up. "How will we get there, anyway? The jail is pretty far away."

"Same way miss iron woman is I guess." Was the reply and the boys followed.

"I wish we had our bikes!" Kazu declared. _Oh yeah. I left it at school._

"Hey, watch out!" Kenta pulled him by the shirt back onto the sidewalk as a car roared past them. "Dude, I... thanks."

"I can't believe you didn't see that!"

"Well, you're the one with great eyes! Why didn't you warn me?"

The light changed to red. 

"Never mind. Let's just go or we'll never catch up to Jeri." 

_Where are those slowpokes?_ Jeri kept on running. _Maybe I should wait for them. Nah. Then I'll never get there in time._ Suddenly, she felt a yank on her tail. She crumpled to the floor from the force it took all her balance to keep from landing on her rear. "Hey, lookie here! What's with the cord, girlie?" a punk rock teenage boy was pulling on her tail. "Grr.. is it attached to your dress or something!? You some extra from Cats?"

"Release my tail or I'll be forced to hurt you." Jeri stated calmly. The rocker and his friends laughed at her standing at his full height, he was easily taller than her. "Hurt me? Can you even reach me?"

Jeri spun backwards and kicked him in the chest, sending him into a trashcan. Her mouth worked faster than her head. "Anyone else wants some!?" 

"Uh..." the boys backed down. 

Kazu and Kenta were only half a block away now. "Whoa! Cool moves, Jeri!" Kenta congratulated her. 

"Cool moves? What happened! I didn't see anything!" Kazu whined. 

"What's with you and bad sight?"

"These eyes no good."

The punk she had sent with the rest of the trash had gotten up, and making it clear his friends were still more afraid of him then this little girl. "Okay you little b**** now you've done it, say good bye."

Jeri strangely didn't feel afraid. "Sorry I don't have to time play, I have to see someone."

"You're not going to see anything again!" The teenage snarled bringing a hard blow at Jeri's head, which she dodged and grabbed his arm and raked it with her nails drawing blood on his bare arm, the punk cursed. "Kill her!" Jeri decided now was a good time to show these guys how fast she could run. Unfortunately she still ended up having to fight her and Kenta and Kazu's way out of there. 

A reluctant Rika waited outside the police station on its roof while Renamon was inside in shadow form looking for Takato and company. Rika had wanted to come along but the older fox kitsune had said it was best one of them stay outside and wait for the Jeri's group. Ugh, it was so easy to slip into that 'older' fox kitsune, not 'the', Rika knew she hadn't been a digimon her whole life, but she wasn't so sure her body remembered. 

Rika sensed the other digimon before Renamon shifted into physical view.

"I looked in all the cells and there was no sign of them."

"Perfect."

"They might have escaped."

"The dino boys and wimpy? That's a joke." 

"Normally I would agree to a point Rika, but you have to admit, the last few days have been full of nothing but surprises."

"I wonder what's keepings the rest so long." Said Rika dropping the subject.

"Heh, now you know I felt all those time I got to the battle area ahead of you."

" . . And you waited for me each of those times?"

"Are we partners or are we partners?" Said Renamon smiling slyly. Rika surprisingly returned the smile. 

A half-hour later the trio drudged on. Kazu looked up at Jeri without moving his head, his eyes had becoming free moving and he didn't feel frightened or confused about moving them the way he would his arms. 

At last he remarked. "I didn't know you could fight like that." 

"Must be the lioness in me." Commented Jeri her tail dragging behind her. 

"And how, when those guys jumped us as we came after you they really kicked their rears. I didn't know humans built up speed that quick."

"They probably can't." Said Jeri dryly. "We can't really call ourselves human beings now can we?" 

"I'm going to call myself one no matter what I look like."

"Remember Rika? She thought she WAS a digimon until my, her, Digivice snapped her out of it. You might call yourself a digimon and not think a thing of it."

"Shot me if that happens."

"Don't count on me doing it." Her green dress had bloodstains on it, some hers, some that collection of punk's. She looked up and saw a dark gray building: it was the city jail.

Lee shook his head, he was going to have to keep an eye on Takato, he kept reverting, no telling when he wouldn't come out of it . . ever.

Okay, Lee thought, he had never been to Takato's before, Renamon must of found Takato by sensing Guilmon, he sighed, now he had to wait for the dinosaur to wake up to give them directions. There was Guilmon, but Lee didn't trust his sense of direction. Then again, that skull of Takato's was pretty thick. Maybe a good ice attack would wake him up without causing any damage. One moment later Takato was up rubbing his frozen thigh, he got up so fast Lee was knocked off and had to grasp onto the rail with his ears before getting back on top of the bus. 

"Why you do that?" Takato demanded.

Lee took one look at the busy and deadly street below before answering. "You're the only one that knows your way home. So we couldn't just wait for you to wake up on your own." 

"Oh."

Lee didn't want to think about how Takato's family was going to react upon seeing them. Maybe Takato would have enough brains left to hide.

As luck would have it, this bus route came within a few blocks of Takato's bakery. But clinging to the roof only kept the dinos entertained for so long. Lee laid back, ears wound around a rail, watching the sky and the falling sun. Guilmon and Takato were playing rock-paper-scissors.

Lee was already so comfortable, he was dozing off. Just then, he felt someone poking him. "Press the snooze button." He mumbled.

"I don't have a snooze button." Takato replied. 

"You have a belly button!" Guilmon declared. Ok, even Takato was embarrassed at a joke that lame, reptiles didn't have belly buttons, besides, Takatomon didn't remember drawing Guilmon one. "We're close to where I used to live. I think it's my old lair, where I was hatched!"

_Hatched!?_ Lee thought. _Wow, his memories have been altered that far back? What if we lose the human Takato forever?_

Lee wrapped his ears around Takato's neck. "One, two... three! Jump!" Both Guilmons leapt from the roof and landed safely on a restaurant overhang.

Which promptly collapsed under the weight, but fate was merciful for once and the place was already closed. 

"At least we don't need to worry about scaring any more people." Commented Lee. Takato brushed himself off as best he could with his claws. 

"Come on." He said. "My parents' Bakery is this way just follow me." Lee was seriously beginning to wonder if this was a bright idea after all. 

"Okay, Takato... do you remember this place?" Lee pointed to the bakery. They stood across the road from it. "Erm... sorta. We came here yesterday. And I remember being a hatchling here."

"Close enough. Let's go."

Lee hovered onto Takato's back. "Giddyup!" 

A car rolled by, then they crossed the pavement and pushed the door open. A tiny bell chimed. "Hello?" Takato's greeting echoed throughout the house. 

"Sorry, we're closed! Come back later!" someone's voice replied.

"Mom? Dad?" Takato whispered looking at the source of the voice.

"T... Takatomon?" 

"Eep." Lee was taken back by what he saw.

"Mom!" Takato charged into a lady with scaly blue skin, giving her a big hug.

"Is that his mom? She looks different." Guilmon told the petrified Lee.

"Oh . . . my . . . Kami(A/N Japanese for God)." Said Lee just starring. He had thought that whatever-this-was was only affecting the Tamers, or at least those who were in contact with Digimon. 

"You okay Lee?" Said Guilmon. "You changing color." The dinosaur mentioned as the tamer turned Digimon paled. 

"Guilmon . . . ever had a day where everything you know gets thrown out the window?" Suzie, oh Suzie, and his dad, his mother, and the rest of his family, what if he had infected them himself? Lee started to panic.

"No, not out the window, but . . . everything I know is right is becoming wrong."

"You need to learn metaphor."

"What?"

"M-metaphor, it means using an example of something else to describe or explain something."

"Oh . . . Takato's parents smell different. Very different."

"I guessed. . Uh Mrs. Matsuki this is a weird question but . . what are you?"

She looked up from hugging her changed son and said. "Uh, a female?" She didn't seem surprised at seeing a 'stuffed animal' talk. 

"Ugh . . . thank you." 

"Oh Takatomon I was so worried about you." Said Takato's mother looking her son in the eye. "I'm sorry I didn't recognize you before."

"It's okay Momon." Replied Takatomon. 

This was not good. Thought Lee. If both of Takato's parent had been . . . infected, then the chances of him holding onto his human-self may have just gone out the window. And the fact his mother seemed to have not noticed her change at all was even more frightening.

Calumon meanwhile was dreaming, more like a nightmare, friendly humans all around him turned into hungry Digimon, all looking at him for food, he struggled in his sleep but didn't awaken.

No matter where he ran, they followed! Even the buildings were totally darkened, with jack-o-lantern faces, and the sky was a menacing red. One of the trashcans grew arms and legs and a razor-toothed mawl! "Help me! Please!" Impmon appeared behind him. "Oh, thank goodness you're here! Everything is all mean and scary and..." Impmon was huge! He scooped him up. "No! Please don't..." he tossed poor little Calumon into his open mouth.

"Eep!" Calumon was jolted awake. He shook from side to side. Even the wind sounded like the most demonic whisper. "Somebody? Anybody?" 

Calumon shook, only the darkness answered him, which was no reply except empty silence, it scared him. It was like the very darkness wanted to eat him like the digimon from his nightmare. It was horrible. Calumon wondered if he was going to start crying, he had seen very small humans cry when they were scared. 

Over the last few days he had not been feeling fine. Now his stomach was heavy, he had trouble keeping balance, he was feeling hot then cold. He wondered if he was getting sick. He had heard humans talk about it. Sick people usual seemed miserable, though kids he had observed usually seemed happy for some reason, it was times like those he decided he would likely never understand humans. He shivered. It was cold. "Doesn't anybody like me anymore?"

Rika and Renamon's ears perked up. 

"About time you guys got here." Said Rika turning seeing the bloody and tired trio. "What happened to you?" She said in uncharacteristic alarm.

"We ran into some bad people this afternoon." Said Jeri. 

"You should have seen Jeri, she was all over them like a lion on . . . like an action star on mob grunts." Started Kazu.

_In other words she 'walked all over them'?_ Rika thought. 

"Don't get into it." Breathed Jeri. She looked at Rika. "Did you find Takato?"

Renamon spoke. "He nor the others were inside. I can only assume they escaped or were taken."

"Takato figured out an escape plan? Doesn't that seem a little odd . . . ?" The bird boy exclaimed.

"He did have that other kid with him."

"Maybe but he was bound to screw up anything anyone else came up with."

Jeri looked at him hard. "I wish you guys would stop beating on Takato. And stop calling him stupid!"

"He is." The duo stepped back.

Jeri took a step forward. "Takato is honest, creative, and a lot smarter than you two will ever be! You jerks are just getting your self-respect by putting him down! Mention one more bad thing about him and I'll rip out your hearts and eat them raw!"

"Yes mum!" They said together in fear and panic. The boys were pale.

Jeri breathed in deep, collecting herself, she knew she wasn't normally like this, at least this time she cared.

Jeri thought for a moment. Some times you spent so much time looking for the answer you couldn't see the forest though the trees. There was no way Takato could have been taken anywhere so soon. He had to have gotten away some how. "There is one place we can look for him." She said much calmer than her out burst. 

"Huh?" the boys were confused but also relieved that Jeri had gone of psycho mode.

"We haven't look at Takato's home."

Rika scoffed her arms crossed. "That's just too obvious and you have to admit a bit stupid . . . " Rika thought about what she said. "That has Takato written all over it. Let's-"

Jeri and Rika's eyes met. Rika had stared down people larger than her before, this little girl should of been no trouble for her, but Jeri held her ground, electricity almost crackled between the two. Neither was going to step down. Renamon watched the pair, if she didn't step in there was going to be blood. 

"A logical suggestion." Said Renamon flatly as she stepped between the two. "Jeri I trust you can lead the way?"

"You bet." Jeri nodded her gaze with Rika broken by Renamon. She looked up the sky. _Getting late. I want to go home but I have to make sure Takato is alright. _

Almost as if she were reading her mind, Rika began, "If we have to go, the three of you will never get there before sunrise tomorrow." Her eyes were still locked on Jeri. "Renamon."

"Got it, Rika." the kitsune leapt off the wall and picked up Kenta.

"Ow! You're pulling my feathers!"

_Maybe I should take the girl too. If left her and Rika alone, one of them would end up dead._ She grabbed Jeri too. 

"Put me down!"

"Sorry, miss Jeri. Kenta was it? Just hold on and you'll be fine." Renamon charged off. Rika and Jeri were still glaring at each other. "So, um... I guess you have to give me a ride." Kazu made sure not to try and upset the ice queen.

"I'd rather let you walk," she turned her nose up. 

"But I guess I have to." She hoisted Kazu over her shoulder and bounded off. 

"Whoa! Hey! Not so fast!"

"Oh?" Said Rika smiling. "You mean like this!" She burst ahead, Kazu thought he was going to faint. He had asked for that one. Rika was about the size a girl her age should of been, in spit of being a walking fox, but they didn't cut down her speed in comparison to Renamon and Kazu made a cowardly scream as they went forward following Renamon. 

"I can walk!" Jeri was protesting. Renamon looked at her. Brown eyes she noted idly. The way the girl was acting . . . maybe the boys had been right. Maybe some of Rika's data had rubbed off on her, but that would been that Digivice HAD been Rika's. Renamon didn't know much about the D-Ark but she figured the only way one would change color was to accept a new Tamer, that would only happen if it's previous Tamer was dead, had it registered Rika as dead when she forgot she was human? Then why didn't it change colors back when she did remember? Too many questions, not enough answers. The fox kitsune ignored the lion girl's protest. "You said you knew the way child, which way?" She had figured out the rout roughly from her tracking down Guilmon just before their fight with Duelmon, but she wanted to give the girl some self-credit. 

"Right two blocks down, after you get to the business section it should be one of the buildings on the left side of the street after two more right turn and one left."

"Understood." She replied. Kenta had his eyes closed and was holding for dear life. Kazu a while behind was screaming in terror. Renamon inwardly moaned, when it suddenly get so hard to keep her existence under wraps?

Rika was annoyed by Kazu's screaming, so she did a quick backwards head butt to knock him out, he held on limply now. Rika thought about why she didn't have the 'tattoos' or gloves that Renamon had, this really left a question about how this thing worked, oblivious it didn't effect none living material nor could it alter it, what would happen if she was to Digivole? Digivole? Her? That was crazy! Then again, it just might have been possible. And her other memories suggested it was possible, it still left Rika uneasy with that second set of memories in her head, both fitting perfectly in her brain, only her own belief that she was human and Renamon's words made her able to remember which was real. Trying to make Rika remember must have been one of the hardest things Renamon must have ever done, especially after what she had told Rika about losing a daughter. Rika had to admire her for that.

~ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 

Flames, comments, good or bad, corrections, suggestions, rants, and ideas on what should happen next, and the occasional constructive criticism all welcome. 

Spelling corrections also welcome as long as you tell what you think of the story itself too. 

anyone know the names of Lee's other two siblings besides Suzie? 


	6. Digivolution

Seems my pre-reader is still having trouble to no fault of his own. So I guess I'm still doing these edits and pre-reads. Those of you who complained the past part was too short, this one should make you happy. (I hope) 

As you know, this was written by both me AND Aaron Max AND the latest name of our now defunct third writer is Zentillion Metalla, AND now Johnthan Dark**.** I think our writing styles are different enough that you can tell us all apart easily. If I forgot anyone, just say so. 

Recently, I had a poll on tsf on what stories I should continue, as an after thought I put Nothing! You write ^*!' as an option, it was the majority vote. When I asked why anyone voted yes, one of the people who voted no said that those who voted yes, do so just because they wanted a fix of Digimon, or whatever, and didn't care about the story itself. However, one of the writers from morphs who had called it quits a while ago, said he voted yes because he wanted to see how the story turned out. That was all needed to hear. You don't say you want to know the end of a story for a fix. You say you want to learn the ending of a story FOR the story. 

Note: All terms for the Tamers' Digivices are totally interchangeable in this story.

I also use the In-Training Rookie, Champion, Ultimate, Mega, system of the dubbed for levels. 

I've gotten confusing information what color Takato's eyes are. Some say blue, others say red, some say brown. A little help here?

With that said and done, the edited, ff.net version of Digimorphs 03! 

~ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 

Miss. Usagi quietly drove home. She had lost her catnip, so she was in a very bad mood. And, to make matters worse, she could swear everything around her was growing. Something kept poking her backside, but there was only her tail there when she looked. (Her mentality had been altered enough to accept having a bestial appendage but not enough to process the sensation)

_Its just one of those days..._ Now, to top it all off, she was caught in traffic! 

"Arrrghh!!" She pounded the steering wheel. At least the day was almost over. She was looking foreword to some very earned rest, not knowing that she would hardly be who she was now when he awoke the next morning. 

For Calumon it was like his nightmare had followed him into the real world. Everything in the park seemed like it wanted to eat him. The ways the trees reached out for him, the shadows oozed across the ground around him, the in-training digimon shivered as even his own feet steps seemed to load as night claimed the dusk. 

"Where now lizard boy? Oh, wait . . . I knocked him out . . .." Rika was glad no one was around to see that rare fluke in herself making an error. "Hrm..." she stopped on a flagpole protruding from a building, naturally crouching. "I can still hear that other guy's cowardly screams. Why doesn't Renamon knock him out too? It would be easier." Rika in spite of herself listened intently with her improved hearing as her fox ears tilted slightly. "They're coming from... there!" She bounded off again. Within a few leaps, she could see her partner and Kenta standing on a small building across from a shop whose display window clearly showed a bakery. Rika landed on the balcony across from the two-story shop with them. "So this is where the other half of Guilmon's brain lives, huh?" 

The adult fox kitsune didn't have time to notice the unconscious reptile on her Tamer's back. Instead she was looking at the being with the confusing aura through the building first floor window. 

"Rika, look!" Renamon motioned for the younger kitsune to follow her gaze. She shadow shifted right next to her Digimon Partner. "I can see Lee and Goggle Face. But who's the blue one?"

"Dude! That's Takato's mom!" Kenta choked out. Renamon's eyes were wide with alarm. 

"WHAT!!" Rika dropped the unconscious Kazu to the ground with a thud. "Are you sure?"

"I think so. She's turning into a Digimon too!"

"Rika, your grandmother!" 

"..." She was speechless. The only person in Rika's life who she considered worthy of her time might now be infected! And she would have been the cause! 

The blink of an eye later, She was gone. Pushing her new body to it's limit and beyond to where her home lay. It was easy for her to picture herself in a cold dark room now. Rika felt something she thought she had killed in herself before it had even been born. Concern. She didn't hear Renamon call for her, all she knew was that she had to check on her grandmother, but . . . what if she hadn't been infected? Wouldn't Rika then infected her by being there? Rika felt her heart of ice break in two from the double bind (hats off to Terry Goodkind) she was trapped in. Still, maybe if she were careful, maybe if she stayed in shadow form whatever it was wouldn't spread to anyone else. Reality hit her hard. She was the carrier of a plague! If anyone had their lives ruined, or lost themselves, she and those two idiots would be to blame! _Sweet God no . . . . _Though she was in shadow form, she could still feel tears on her cheeks. Tears? TEARS?! She was Rika Nonaka! Tears were the mark of a weakling! The mark of . . . someone human . . . Hadn't Rika spent most of her life freeing herself of such concepts as love and empathy, such weakness' like not wanting to hit the enemy when he's down, listening to the pleas for mercy from a helpless opponent? 

Why? Why should these things come to haunt her now?! _We do not realize how precious something is until it is gone. _Rika bit and scratched at the quote from somewhere trying to force it back to where it came from. But it stayed. It wouldn't let her lock it out again. For the fraction of a second, she wanted to surrender to her other self, to let her human self vanish and let her new Digimon self become the only real Rika, but . . . no . . . she wasn't a coward, she wasn't a weakling, she wouldn't lose herself! Not again! _But it was nice to- _

"No!" Rika screamed in the darkness of the shadows, she collapsed where she lay, exhaustion taking its prize to dream land. She didn't hear a door open, or see a light come on, or an old woman's gasp at seeing the unconscious child kitsune on her patio.

The Kitesune the woman knew to be her granddaughter fidgeted as she picked up the sleeping child.

"Well, I suppose I should bring you in. No sense leaving you out here to catch pneumonia" Rika's grandmother spoke softly, as not to wake the child.

__

Rika, digimon tamer, was in an open field, the sky blue with vaporous clouds, the sun high, and endless fields of green grass all around her. 

"Time to die." Rika turned in time to see a furred foot come at her face, she her back against the ground hard, she looked up to see a fox kitesune digimon.

"Renamon?" Rika asked in disbelief. No, this one didn't have any marks or gloves and her eyes . . . they . . . they were the same color as Rika's! 

"No." It, she, said. Rika rolled to the side as a hard stomp hit the ground leaving an imprint where her head had been a second before. 

She felt rather than saw the kitesune grab her neck from the front, her air being cut off. Suddenly she wasn't seeing this from her perspective, she was watching it from the Kitesune's perspective. Rika dropped the dead body in her hand, it hit the grass with a thud, she took a step back, shivering, the human girl shattered into data bits, they turned from red to blue and they swarmed into Rika. She looked down at her furred and clawed hands . . . She . . . she had just killed herself? But . . . she was herself! Rika screamed.

"Dad . . ." Jeri said shakingly, too worried about her family at the moment to be worried about the departed Rika's distress. What if . . . _oh God. _Kenta too was stunned as his own realization hit him. Renamon just looked forlorn in the direction Rika had gone. Renamon considered going after her, but . . . maybe the others had learned something that could help Rika. 

"We've all gone home, still infected. By now, our parents are probably all furry too!" Jeri was panicking. 

"Whmry yera, rukia..." 

"Hrmm?" Kenta learned over and noticed Kazu was coming back to his senses. 

"Hey, you okay dude?" 

"I just had the strangest dream. Argh! Its real! When this is all over, I'm switching to Pokemon!"

Kenta's beak clicked as he laughed.

Lee wished he still had his Digivice (he would have to go though the rubble at Guilmon's later), and he doubted Takato's still worked, maybe then he could use that as proof to show Takato and his mother they weren't supposed to be like this. (He remembered what had happened with that strange Devidramon called Yamaki) That was about when he looked up hearing some people talking.

"Hey, what's that sound?" Lee turned around and saw nothing. Following the weird clicking sound he zeroed in on the roof across the street to see a feathered Kenta (Takato had talked about him once) talking to someone.

Then he noticed two other students from Takato's class. Kids from their school were infected too?! How many people had been infected? Lee felt a heavy weight forming in the pit of his stomach. 

Guilmon followed Lee's gaze and his nose to notice the digimon the roof as well. Guilmon came out of the shop to look at the hybrids.

Kazu and Kenta just looked at each other. There were two lizard Takatos? They saw one wearing the remains of Takato's cloths hugging his blue skinned mom. The other . . . Kenta and Kazu grudgingly made the conclusion that the thing that had scared them witness in Takato's hideout in the park wasn't a stuff animal with flash light eyes. 

Lee called following Guilmon outside. If anything just to get his follow plague carriers inside. 

"Hey you guys, on the roof, I think you better come in..."

though being a bit started from being discovered so easily both boys leapt into Renamon's arms. The fox digimon decided to comply in spite of the their rude manner and leapt downwards. 

"...erm, yeah. Just come inside!"

Jeri edged at the side of the building, and after crossing herself jumped after Renamon before thinking it all the way through and realizing the fox could have just come back for her. Maybe it was the digimon part of her, maybe she was just being stupid. But for a moment though, Jeri thought that jumping off a two-story building onto solid concrete wouldn't hurt.

In a way, Jeri was lucky she had changed as much as she hand. For instead of a broken leg, she only felt a shockwave of pain up rush through her legs and up her body when she landed on both feet instinctively bending her appendages at the last second. 

No one noticed her brief scrap with lose of limb as all had their back to her walking into the shop and she was too numb from the force of the drop to give up a yelp on impact. But things were so bizarre at the moment, it was hard to blame anyone for not noticing her. 

Takatomon noticed at last his friends coming in and speaking in his now natural Guilmon voice tried to sound unsurprised by their sudden showing. 

"Oh, uh, mom? I brought some friends of mine. That's Kazu and Kenta and this is Jeri. Oh, and these two are Guilmon and Terriermon."

"Oh, nice to meet you." Takato's mom greeted them as if Digimon were a common sight in their house.

Jeri looked at her D-Ark, holding it just out of sight as if it was an unregistered weapon, it showed an image of a normal human woman in normal Japanese gab but it also showed a picture of what the screen said was a Veedramon. Jeri felt her heart trying to escape though her chest, was this change happening to everyone? Takato's mom was acting as if nothing was out of the ordinary with how she or they looked. Jeri pinched herself in hopes that this was all a nightmare and yelp as she drew blood. She looked at her hand to see five claws slowly go back into their seethes on her fingertips, like a cat, or lion. Jeri hadn't noticed the extra weight, but now that she could think about it, it had been on her fingers all afternoon, she guessed she just found out why.

"Are you okay dear?" Said Takato's mother in concern over her short cry of pain, Jeri stuffed the D-Ark back in her pocket in a panic, her tail stiff. 

"I-I am just fine." She stuttered. 

"Takato, everyone we've come in contact with could be infected! And they'll infect others! What have we done!?" Lee was hiding in his ears.

"What's so bad about everyone being infected?" Takato asked. 

"Because I don't think people want to be Digimon!" Jeri shouted, not knowing Takato had lost himself. Mrs. Matsuki was totally confused by what the kids were saying and attributed it to normal kid weirdness**. **

Without warning Jeri's Digivice started glowing through her clothes. 

"Hey, what's happening to it now?" she asked. Not thinking, she took it out and looked at it. 

"Jeri?!?!" Said Lee and Takatomon together. "When the heck did you get a D-Power?!" 

"Hrrm? Oh this?" Jeri laughed nervously, glance at her D-Ark sweat dropping. Uh... I found it." 

Takatomon was satisfied by this answer, but Lee could sense she was hiding something. But they had more important things to deal with. Changed or not, duty called. 

"It's tracking a Digimon! Why does this always happen at wrong time?" Lee tugged at her skirt. "Time to go. That new monster won't wait for us to get there. Takato, Guilmon?"

The two lizards gave him their relatively full attention and nodded both clearly ready to fight.

Jeri was slightly taken back. "What do you mean go?"

Lee looked at her. "You're new at this aren't you?"

"I just found this thing a day or two ago. I don't even have a partner."

Lee now KNEW something was up, he had never heard of a tamer being given a Digivice before their digimon at least appeared in the real world. Lee sighed. "Look, if you're one of us now. Then you need to learn the ropes so you better come along."

Takatomon strangely (to himself) seemed worried about Jeri being in a battle with him, but another part of him was excited at the idea and it overruled the former part.

After a few seconds of internal debate Jeri conceded. "Let's go!" she breathed.

Kazu and Kenta, happily thinking they had been invited as well, forgot they were still exhausted from the last time and were set to follow. 

"Bye mom!" called Takatomon as he set out to leave, his mind no longer processing the idea of cover story' and Lee feeling it no longer mattered.

"Bye Takatomon's mom." Guilmon added.

Mrs. Matsuki was totally befuddled by what the hybrids were saying and what they were doing."Wait. Where are you going? You just got here!" Now was not the time for games.

Takatomon turned to her and spoke quickly. "I'll explain everything later."

"Oh no you won't!" A blur later she had her son in a super humanly strong clinch, no intention of letting him go crossing her mind. Her son had vanished for almost three days and now he was leaving just like that? She didn't think so. Who was the digi-mommy around here anyway?

Jeri coming to the conclusion that time was of the essence looked at her D-Ark, then at Takato. She remembered how the compass had been acting when she first got it. Point at the park. The park where she had learned from Terriermon, Takato had been a while before she arrived. Getting a very insane idea. . . She swallowed. Half of her wanted this idea to work; the other half thought the first half should have been ashamed of itself. She had a few playing cards with her. (she had started a collection though she didn't know how to play yet) She looked at one card. _As good as any._ She thought grimly. 

__

-Digi Modify-

" **Digi Modify! **

Strength: **ACTIVATE! **" 

The voice was several octaves deeper than it had been a few days before. Four crimson eyes now looked at the portable computer screen liberated' from Hypnos earlier that day, giving them a direct link to the massive computer system watchdog. "Hmm . . . yes." 

"What now?" Remarked a vaguely humanoid flaming woman sized cat, her voice seemingly unchanged. They were at Yamaki's apartment where the two had come as a sort of safe haven. 

"There's another one running loose." Yamaki carefully pecked at the keyboard with one claw. Two would be enough to break the laptop! 

"Come on. Where there's a Digimon, there are those kids." 

Riley, who was almost fully transformed into a Lynxmon, if not yet mentally, heaved herself off the couch somehow managing to stand on two legs. 

"I know those children the key to undoing this mess." Just a few hours ago he had said Hypnos was their key for a cure. "I just need to get some of their data along with their pets and study it." He turned off the laptop and walked straight through the wall without a second thought, and flew right off the edge of the building. 

"I'll never... get used to him doing that." Not to mention they were bound to bring a lot of attention to themselves by smashing holes through buildings, the first one through the windows was bad enough.

Riley took the fire escape route planning to follow the path that Yamaki had taken by air.

"Ohh..." Calumon wailed, was now fully awake, gliding from branch to branch. Not by choice however, the wind was just very powerful. His ears had expanded at the idea of finding Guilmon to play with just as a strong wind current of air had started. The In-Training repeatedly broke through twigs, not thinking how luck he was he hadn't run straight into a solid trunk. Just as this occurred to him and he thought things could be worse he slammed into something hard and nasty in the branches.

The hard and nasty something was not happy. "Ow!! Hey! Aw not you again!" Impmon! "I told ya ta leave me alone! I'm tryin' to kick back and youse come floating along ta whack me on the head!?" 

Calumon shrunk back along with his ears. "I'm Sorry. I didn't mean to."

"It's too late for sorry! Night of Fire!!" Impmon threw his pitiful fireball at Calumon, hitting him in the chest. The poor little In-Training landed in an empty bird's nest. "Showed you!" Impmon mumbled.

"Hey, what's that?" Calumon not really damaged from the attack peeked out from the bird's nest, pointing to a hazy fog covering the street a block away from the park.

Impmon's eyes widened at this. This was it! No more idiots to deal with! No more regrets plucking at his heartstrings! Time to finally check out! "My ticket outta here!" Impmon looked delighted. He hopped from the tree to the pavement and sprinted down the sidewalk.

"He's weird." Calumon observed his going to their large size before being lifted away by another strong gust.

Calumon realized much to his dismay that the wind was blowing him right at the weird fog too . . .

"Oh no . . . " He mumbled, there was always fighting when those things popped up, and the little digimon hated fighting, it was just so . . . every part of him screamed it was wrong to fight. It was part of his programming he guessed. But, at the same time he felt there was a need for him to be there, with the humans and their friends when they fought. He didn't understand it. But there were many things he didn't understand, like how they got the white stuff into the creampuffs. Calumon's mind emptied of all thoughts related to food when the wind deposited him none too gently just outside the digital field's border. Impmon was already inside.

Impmon covered his face with his arms. This fog was thick! He could see a tall shadow standing in the dead center of the mist, ugh, he had forgotten a digital field only appeared when another digimon was entering the physical world. 

"Hey you!!" The figure's head turned slowly to look at Impmon. Its eyes opened, totally black, Impmon gasped. "Er... I mean, bring it on! I can take you down! If I get ta Digivolve, it'll all be worth it! Infernal Tunnel!!" He summoned a spinning tunnel from the ground. A fireball as large as his head came out. "Bada-Boom!" he pointed at the foe, and the fireball responded by slamming right into it. "Ha! Not so tough now, huh!?" The creature was totally unfazed. 

"You are an insult to the Fallen Angel Digimon species." It replied. 

"...! What are you!"

"More powerful than you ever will be. If you want to see a real fireball, I recommend this..." He held out his hand. A wall of black fire rushed through Impmon, burning him to a crisp. His body hit a flagpole and he was down for the count. "Pathetic."

Meanwhile Calumon still the outside of the digital field wondering what was going gone on inside. That was when Impmon came flying out of the mists and hit a flag poll, he landed on the concrete with a crunch, his data bits struggling to hold together. 

"Poor Impmon." Calumon said he eyes full of pity, it was only because the little devil was out cold that Calumon didn't get a retort.

Jeri wasn't sure if the card swipe had worked. Takato's mom was still bear-hugging her son to keep him there. 

"Mom! Let... me.. GO!" with one mighty swing of his tail, Takatomon knocked his mom down and charged off. "Sorry mom, but this is important!" 

"Was that really necessary?" Lee asked taking the example to hightail it out of there along with the rest of the crew.

Takatomon didn't respond, his guilt for striking his mom eating at his insides. Only the prospect of the coming fight kept him focused. 

Guilmon was playing Takato's usual role as a Digimon transport system, carrying both Lee and Terriermon. Jeri was completely silent the whole way. _Am I a Digimon Tamer? Maybe now that Rika's no longer human, something chose me._

"We need to go faster if we wanna catch the thing sometime this year." Terriermon joked.

" I have a really useful card." Jeri suggested meekly. "Or so I'm told. It should help." She spun the card before she knew what she was doing.

"**DigiModify!**

Hyper Wings: **ACTIVATE**!" 

Suddenly, Takato sprouted a large pair of angelic wings from his back. Lee was seriously surprised at seeing a card slash from Jeri affecting Takato. This obliviously suggested something he didn't want to accept just yet.

Takatomon was just as knocked for a loop. "How... you can DigiModify me!?" 

"I... guess. . . " Jeri began.

"Do me too!" Guilmon pranced around interrupting and leaving the question unresolved, how the idea Jeri could affect them both came into his head has never been discovered. I could have had something to do with the fact he and Takato now looked so much alike. 

"I dunno if I can, but... here goes nothing!

DigiModify! 

Hyper Wings: **ACTIVATE**!" 

Now Guilmon had wings too! 

__

Okay. Lee concluded. _I don't like this show anymore. Change the channel please. _Takatomon noticed Jeri wavering where she stood.

"Jeri? Are you okay?" He asked.

She was kind of dizzy. Perhaps playing an option card drained her energy. Ignoring his question she climbed up onto Takato's back. "Let's go!" She said with as much enthusiasm as she could muster on the idea of fighting an unknown monster on the back of her friend changed into an imaginary dinosaur.

"Oh great! You're heavier than Lee!" Takatomon whined but complied. 

"Hey what about us!?" Said Kenta. Jeri pointed a finger at them. 

"You, stay, here!" The transformed humans and digimon went into the air. Following the compass on Jeri's D-Ark.

Renamon, who had been in shadow form since Jeri had stepped inside the Bakery watched them go. Normally she would hunger for battle. But right now she had much more important concerns. Her Tamer. Renamon grudgingly admitted that Rika's rivals were apt fighters. They would deal with whatever threat awaited them. Renamon on the other hand, had to go find her Tamer once again, at least this time she knew where she had to be. Never being thought of by the K-boys or the rest of the digimon and Tamers for the rest of the night, Renamon sped away still in her shadow form to the one thing that mattered more to her than fighting and all it entailed, someone she loved. 

The weird fog began to spread as the digimon started to move from his entry point. Calumon didn't like the feeling he got from this digimon, it was just . . . wrong. Calumon soon could make out detail of the monster, much to his dismay. 

He looked rather like the cloaked Daemon, but his body was engulfed in an endless evil black fire and his horns went straight back. He had clawed hands and feet, and a heavy crown of copper and ruby. He carried a ghastly looking sickle sword that make running as far as he could as fast he could sound like a very good idea to the white digimon. If he could only get his feet to listen to him! 

The beast completely ignored the walking cream puff vacuum. "So this is the legendary physical world? Heh, somehow I was expecting something more. But I am now free of the whims of programmers. And there is no one in this world strong enough to face me." His clawed feet stepped foreword, crushing the cement with its weight.

When the group arrived (they had used the time to get there to trade recent histories and introductions) and got off their respective mounts, they found Calumon looking at an injured and unconscious Impmon.

"Hey haven't I see you before?" Said Jeri looking at the white digimon. He looked so familiar. But she didn't remember seeing his face on any of the cards.

The white digimon looked at her curiously. "Aren't you that human that made that load noise when I went by her at that place with all the jars?" Said Calumon ideally, Impmon forgotten. 

"You . . . " Jeri started. "You were that thing with green eyes that scared me half to death back at school?!"

"Oh yea! That's what Takato and the others call it! School!"

"Meet Calumon." Said Lee flatly. 

"Uh . . . I'm Jeri Kato, nice to met you." She stuck out her hand at the tiny digimon who after looking at it as if trying to figure out what to do with it stuck out his own little hand as well.

"My name's Calumon." He said cheerfully.

Jeri shook the hand of the suddenly surprised digimon. 

Calumon let go. "Whoa. Do you always do that when you met someone new?"

"Some times, if they're friendly." Was Jeri's smiling reply. Calumon's ears expanded. "You know, you're not that scary when you're not bouncing around." Lee thought back to when they had considered Jeri a Tamer for Calumon but decided that she would just freak again if she saw him. Lee guessed they had been wrong.

Terriermon being true to himself interrupted the sweet scene.

"Sorry to break this Kodak moment up, but am I the only one who remembers we have a digimon to take care of?"

Lee spoke. "Right . . . . Jeri, point you're Digivice at the fog, the screen facing you. It should tell us what we're dealing with." Jeri obeyed and after a few seconds a holographic image appeared above the screen, Jeri gasped. 

"I don't remember this digimon." She said taking a step back. 

"I don't think all digimon are based off characters from game or show." Lee couldn't see the screen with her face to it. "What's the stats on whoever's in there?"

"Hadesmon, Ultimate level, Fallen Angel class digimon, Virus Type. His Hellfire Wall creates a moving wall of grinning black flame and . . ." Jeri began shaking, "His sword's Soul Banisher attack came separate a person's soul from their body to be deposited in his belt buckle." (Aaron Max original) Takato looked at her in concern, she was scared. 

"Afraid?" Said a massive male voice from the fog, the group finally noticed the ground was shaking beneath them. "Should be." 

Idly, Lee thought he looked kind of like Deamon, Creepymon, or Demon depending on which cannon you followed, except his horns went straight back. He had a fire aura like Maluramon(sp). His robes were also much more torn than Demon's and his legs were clearly visible, a purple mass of boiled flesh and claws. His face was hidden, reminding Lee more of the Nazgul Witch King from Lord of the Rings than Demon with those glowing red eyes, the fact he had a crown made of copper and ruby added to the impression. At his side on a black leather gold buckled sword belt was a sickle blade. Lee watched it warily, remembering what Jeri had read on the display. 

"Go home." Said Lee boldly. 

"No . . ." Was the dark and instant reply.

__

It was worth a shot. Thought the Chinese/Japanese boy. If Rika were here she'd probably say that if they could take down a Mega like Duelmon than an ultimate should have been no problem, but with either demonic or holy digimon, it was always a different ball game. 

"Get out of my way." Hadesmon spoke in a non-uncertain tone. Jeri was shaking. 

__

Come on Jeri don't lose it now. Thought Lee in concern. Takato and Guilmon lowered themselves into charging stances. 

"Over my deleted data pal!" Returned Terriermon. Lee made a mental note if they survived this to put Terriermon and Suzie in the same room, lock the door, then melt down the key. 

"As you wish. Hellfire Wall!" A barrier of pitch-black flame flew at them, grinning all the way.

Jeri stood there frozen as if her legs had been glue to the spot as death rushed to meet her. Then there was a wall of red muscle blocking the way. The blast hit Takatomon dead on, shielding the others, he fell on his knees, shaking, using one of his claws for support.

__

I just could have been killed. Thought Jeri in realization.

Takatomon had never known such pain, his mind floated in it. Lee gasped as Takato's body for a millisecond looked like it was having trouble holding its data together as his image become pixilated. There was no way he could survive another hit.

_Dammit! If I could use my Digivice Wargreymon's Shield would have block that easily! We're going to end up dead if we do something fast! _Hadesmon walked foreword each step a shake in the night, looking to pass the Tamers like so much underbrush. 

Jeri was just standing there, looking at the demon digimon in terror. 

"Jeri snap out of it!" Shouted Lee, but she didn't seem to hear him. _I hate to sound like Rika but we don't have time for this! _He used one of his ears like a whip and struck one of Jeri's bare legs. Jeri yelped in pain as she was forced back to reality. (nothing like a good does of pain to bring someone back to the real world)

"I... I..." Jeri was at a total loss for words, her tail flicking around nervously. 

"Fools. All of them." Hadesmon looked down upon Takatomon, who was still on his knees. "Wrenched creature." he drew his sword from its sheath. "Prepare to face oblivion." 

"Pyro Sphere!" A thick fireball struck one of Hadesmon's Deamon-like wings. "Was that your best shot, weakling?" he menacingly turned to face Guilmon. "I shall kill you along with your friend."

"Maybe this wasn't such a good idea!" Guilmon took a step back. He was obviously outmatched. 

"Time for you to meet your maker. Soul Banish!" Hadesmon brought his evil blade down on Guilmon. 

"Jeri, do something!" Lee commanded her. 

"What can... maybe... cards! Yes!" she drew a handful of cards from her handbag.

"Yeep!" Guilmon leapt back, narrowly avoiding death. Cling! Where Hadesmon's sword had struck the pavement, the earth itself was ripped open, emanating an eerie green light. Moans and cries could be heard coming from deep down in the chasm.

"Eeeek!" Jeri dropped her hand of cards and ducked, the cards fluttered helplessly into the green abyss.

"Takatomon! Go!" Guilmon shouted. 

"..." The need to stand up and run overpowered the pain Takatomon was feeling. He used his tail as a counterbalance, finally standing on his own two feet.

"Oh. You again." Hadesmon laughed. "Back for more, are we? Well, I can cure you of that disease called life. Soul Banish!"

"No!" Screamed Jeri leaping inhumanly fast and far grabbing hold of the monster's arm, knocking the blade off course, causing another glowing green crack to appear in the ground. The dark digimon's fire aura burned the hair and skin on her arms, it burned both her dress and the fur on her chest. Jeri screamed in pain as the consuming fire licked at her chest's sensitive areas. Like so much garbage Hadesmon threw her away with on strong swing of his arm. Tears came down Jeri's face from the pain that was eating at her limbs and chest. 

"If you wanted to die first! You should have just said so!" Snarled the demon digimon. 

"Jerimo- . . . Jeri!" Said Takatomon looking at what was happing in slow motion, the demon turn from the digimon, barely able to stand, let alone attack, to Jeri, her tail as still as a rode as she watched death come to her. 

"Takato . . . help me." Whispered Jeri as if it was a struggle to speak, she knew it was a false hope, there was no way Takato could help her, all she could do was wait for death to come at her. The others raced towards her, in a feeble attempt to get to her in time. It was hopeless. She knew she was about to die. And who knew what hideous fate awaited her soul.

"No . . . ." Said Calumon sadly, his ears folding back onto themselves. "NO!" His forehead symbol shone, piercing the darkness like a lance. 

****

DIGIVOLOTION: 

"What?" Hadesmon glanced over his shoulder, and saw the larger of the two red digimon float a few inches off the ground. His eyes narrow as raw data started swirl about him. 

The screen of Jeri's D-Ark showed ones and zeros scroll down it like rain. 

Like a computer image, the outer layer was stripped away, leaving a wire frame, which was quickly replaced by new 'flesh'. Even as the new digimon was being 'rendered' like a cocoon the data surrounded it hiding it from view. 

An explosion of fire followed a second later as the new complete digimon landed with a giant thud. A main of white hair went down the head and back of the neck, a pair of backwards horns stuck from the ridges of the eye brows, the virus symbol on his face had moved to his chest. He was at least several times larger than before, and a lot of it was muscle, a second pair of 'horns' now protruded backwards from the wrists. Of course this all took time to write down, all present took this in a matter of seconds. Fire came out though his nostrils as he snarled. Whatever was left his cloths including his goggles feel away like so much scorched trash. 

__

"Takatomon Digivoles to . . . Growlmon." 

"Jeri, how did you know that?" Asked Lee staring at her.

"I . . . I don't know." She whispered. 

"Can't any of you just make up your minds(?) or should you just all form a line for me to cut you down all at once?" Said a frustrated and bored Hadesmon. 

The massive digimon only growled and got up to his full height, Hadesmon noted, with no real alarm, that the dinosaur was a good head taller than him if more. 

The scaled beast took a step foreword, if the city shook with Hadesmon, with this one, the Earth moved. 

Growlmon made one swift move with his claws but Hadesmon's sword blocked it easily, and the dinosaur's skin started to wrinkle where they touched. 

Jeri couldn't believe it. Was that . . . was that thing Takato? What had happened? How had he changed? If only she could help! But all of her cards had gone down that hellish void Hadesmon's sword had made. . . .

Jeri wanted to knock herself on the side of the head for her own stupidity! She had lost the cards she was holding down the crevice that Hadesmon's scythe had made when she had ducked, but not the rest in her deck! She had just been too scared to think straight! And it had almost gotten her and Takato killed. Well, she wasn't going to make that mistake again, if she was part lion now, she might as well act the part! What was it Takato had said that one time?

__

"Gonna play with Guilmon today Takato?" Jeri asked cheerfully holding her sock puppet. 

Takato practically snarled at her. "Jeri I'm not playing!" 

Takato was right. . . .this wasn't a game. This was life and death. And this digimon was going to kill them, and keep on killing, unless he was stopped now. She drew a new hand. 

"Don't you idiots get it yet?! You can't win!" Said the demon as the aging spread up Growlmon's arm. 

"It's not over till it's over!" Growled Jeri. She flipped the card in her hand. "Now witness the real power of a Tamer!" 

" **Digi Modify!**

Strength: **ACTIVATE! **"

Growlmon's muscles bulged as he pushed back on the sword, sliding it down onto the street with a crack. 

"Takato jump back!" Ordered Jeri. The digimon complied and leaped back several feet, Jeri almost lost her footing from vibration of the impact as he landed. But she held on. She had to.

If he won't stop, there will be no future for us. Its stand on my shoulders.

" **Digi Modify! **

Restore: **ACTIVATE! **" 

The old age on Growlmon's arm vanished as he felt his battle wariness dissolve. 

"What?" Said Hadesmon in disbelief, who was his human? 

__

I won't be this way. Nor will I count on others.

Vaccine beat Virus. And Jeri knew how to give Takato the edge. 

" **Digi Modify! **

Vaccine Conversion: **ACTIVATE! **" 

The dinosaur started as his eyes shifted from crimson to blue and his virus symbol inverted. No other changes occurred.

__

Close my eyes and feel the burn. Now I see what I gotta do!

"Whatever you're doing you're still going to die!" Hadesmon leaped impossibly high into the air and brought his weapon down. "Soul Banish!"

" **Digi Modify! **

Power Chip: **ACTIVATE! **" 

__

Open your heart! It's going to be all right!

(begin playing terrible power' music from Neon Genesis, don't know it's real title, but you'll know it when you hear it) 

"Dragon Blade!" The dinosaur spoke at last as the 'horn' on his right arms snapped into a 45 degree angle, a sparking white magnetic field formed around the spike. Hadesmon's sword, for everything, was still data matter, and magnets destroyed data, it was sliced in two as it hit the crimson spine. 

Not missing a beat, Growlmon shifted his weight, lifted one leg, and in swift motioned, rammed his tail into the demon digimon's side, sending him sailing right into a building's front, smashing concrete and glass. Lee prayed no one was inside. Hadesmon cleared himself of the rubble, enraged. 

"Hellfire Wall!" He fired the jack-o-lantern faced ebony wall of flame at the dinosaur digimon, it charged, it felt pain as it rammed though the black fire, but it just didn't care, barely slowing down it rammed a claw right into Hadesmon's gut.

The dark virus digimon stood there, shaking, his crimson eyes bulged, it sounded like he was trying to speak but words wouldn't form. Growlmon twisted his clawed hand further into Hadesmon's insides. The other claw slashed at the head, the crown and cloak were ripped off.

__

Witch King indeed. Thought Lee as if in a dream.

Only static and two red eyes were where the head should have been. 

"Pyro Blaster!" Snarled the digimon as a literal river of crimson destructive flame shot out of his jaws, eating into Hadesmon's body, his data began to disintegrate. The fire shot though his chest and out the other side causing even more damaged to the building behind him. Growlmon swung the enemy digimon back into the street, creating an impression, his claws still imbedded in his chest. Hadesmon's arm came up at Growlmon's head, the other claw caught it, and twisted it, breaking it off, blood and data spraying. Hadesmon screamed. A sick look of satisfaction was on the former human's face. He crushing the disconnected arm, it vaporized, he didn't think once as he absorbed it's data. 

Growlmon kneeled both his legs onto his enemy's body, pinning him down. And ripped his prey apart. 

The splashing green demon blood stood on his crimson scales. The dino-, no, the dragon, tore at him, piece by piece, limb by limb, a bit of chest, an arm, jaws tearing into muscles and bone, that look of pleasure never leaving his face. 

"I . . . I'm becoming something like that?" Said Jeri suddenly feeling scared and sick, but it wasn't for her life, it was for her soul. 

"Taka . . . to . . . mon . . ." Guilmon's ears wilted. 

"Oh man I think I'm gonna-" Terriermon vomited. 

Calumon's mouth opened and closed but his voice had chosen then to leave him. 

Lee remained silent, his lips pressed together. Staring intently as the thing that had been Takato took apart the digimon that had a second ago been so close to killing them all. 

Growlmon made a roar of triumph as Hadesmon's body at last could no longer hold what was left of itself together and digi-vaporized. His data was down loaded a second later. 

The digital fog began to dissipate as usual. 

Silence, not even the sound of nighttime traffic. Everyone was still as stone in the wake of the battle. The remaining beast slowly turned its head till it was looking at Jeri, and began to march foreword. Jeri instinctually took one step back but made no other move. In a matter of seconds the digimon was looming above her. It looked down at Jeri as if trying to decide what to make of her. He fainted, falling on his side with a crash. At the exact same instant Jeri fell over backwards as well, out before she even hit the concrete. 

"Oh no, oh no, oh no, oh no, oh no." The former human began to mumble.

Having recovered, Terriermon shouted. "Come on Lee! Don't zone out on us now!" 

"How the heck are we going to carry Jeri and Takato?! He's jumbo size!" Shouted Lee the voice of his friend having snapped him back to reality. 

Terriermon look in desperation at Tamer and digimon. "I don't have a clue but we better think of something fast."

Lee looked at the unconscious Jeri. Ugh! Lee wished he still had his cards with him, but he had left them at Guilmon's hide out just before Yamaki smashed it. There had to be something they could do! He had to think of something. Lee snapped his fingers. It was a slim chance, but the only chance he could think of. He hopped over to Jeri and searched her deck. _Come on. _He thought. _Be here. _It wasn't. _Dammit! _He heard a cracking sound, he thought maybe the building from before was collapsing, then he traced the sounds and saw it was the cracks made by Hadesmon's sword, they were sealing up, and spitting out whatever had been inside. Including the cards Jeri had dropped down there! He rushed to them, picked them up and did a quick scan. _Yes! _

"Whatcha got?" Shouted Terriermon. 

"A very insane idea." He shouted back. "Guilmon! Help me drag Jeri over to Takato!"

"All right." He replied not knowing what else to do. 

A minute later Jeri was slumped next to Takato's massive shape. 

"Okay . . . " said Lee. "Everyone brace yourselves, I don't even know if this will work."

"If what will work?" Asked the ever curious Guilmon. Lee didn't respond. Lee remember something as an after thought and found Takato's deck (black around the edges but still usable) completely forgotten in the destroyed pants, he picked up the goggles (or what was left of them) as a memento in case the boy missed them when he came to.

The Lopmon placed Jeri's Digivice in one of her hands and the card in the other. It was clumsy and slow going, but it was best he could do.

Terriermon saw what card Lee had in Jeri's hand. "You're kidding right?" 

"Can you think of anything better?" Lee retorted. Before Terrerimon could respond Lee noticed a winged mass flying towards them. A Devidramon. Yamaki! No time! He slashed the card. 

****

-Digiport- 

There was a flash. And they were gone. "Noo!" Roared Yamaki, they vanished! Just when he was so close! Reilly was a few minutes behind him, he had nothing to do but wait for her to catch up.

He didn't notice the small purple digimon that got up and shook his head trying to clear the cob webs, or that his massive tail sent said digimon flying through the sky a second later. His scream of "Why me?" too faint to be heard. 

There was a flash. And the group of transformed humans and digimon appeared, crackling with electricity at what remained of Guilmon's hide out. 

"I didn't like that ride." Said Calumon cooked to a crisp. 

"I think my food now go backwards." Said Guilmon dizzy. 

"Lee . . ." Said Terriermon calmly.

"Yes?" The current digimon replied uncertain.

Terriermon bellowed. "Don't ever use that card again or I'll smash you to data bits right after telling everyone your middle name . . . Hen-" Lee slapped a paw over Terriermon's mouth. 

"Okay, okay, you win!" Lee relented. A few minutes later Lee was going though the rubble looking for his deck. It was slow going. 

"Okay Lee, how did you know that was going to work?" Asked Terriermon, hands on his hips.

"I told you I didn't . . . I just figured, if I mentally pictured Guilmon's place when I or rather Jeri used the card, that maybe we'd get zapped there."

Terriermon sighed. "Zapped is right. I feel like I've crashed and rebooted more times than Internet Explorer 3.0." 

"I guess the fact Jeri and Takato are out of it, is a blessing for them. . . ." He tugged at a bit more of rock, it would have been in his sweat shirt so that would of left them right around . . . 

"Bingo!" Exclaimed Lee, still getting used to the change in his voice. He tugged at his sweat shirt, thanking the force that protect heroes, fools, and humans turned digimon named Lee Wong that what was left of the building didn't collapse. He quickly dragged the over sized shirt away from the rock and check inside the pocket, pay dirt. 

"Got'em." Said Lee relieved that his cards weren't damaged. 

"Yippy." Mumbled Terriermon. 

"I see you have sarcasm down."

"I get it all from Rika." He looked at Jeri and Growlmon. "So what do we do with them?" 

"Taking Takato back home wouldn't be very smart right now." Said Lee. "And I don't have a clue where Jeri lives."

"What about those two bozos back at Takato's?"

"Kenta and Kazu? . . . Hopefully they'll be smart and not try to get into contact with anyone new. Me, Jeri, Takato, Rika, and the rest can't risk spreading this disease any further than it's already gone." 

"Lee . . . you were at school for a whole day before your full change took place. And there's the rest. And don't forget, Takato's parents acted like nothing was the matter when they saw Takato." 

Lee realized the whole grime magnitude of what had begun. "I . . . I can't only hope it's not a level five virus."

"Meaning?"

"You can pass it along just by being in the same breathing space as someone. We can hope it's only transmittable by much closer contact."

"And if it isn't?"

"God help the world. Because no one else is going to be able to." 

"You know Lee, it's funny. But if . . . just if, this change _did_ take everyone, don't look at me that way I don't want it anymore than you do, but, I think people might still just go to work, go home, watch TV and go to bed." 

"Terriermon, the Takato we know is practically a ghost. You saw him tonight . . . we don't know if there's anything left of him at all now. He certainly wasn't thinking about school, TV, homework, and bed."

"Like you said, we can only hope."

"Please . . . don't let that story come true."

"What story?"

"'I'll Know You By Your Eyes' by Brian Eirik Coe. I think I mentioned it before. The details don't matter, the point is, because of an alien virus, the entire human race within a week was reduced to bizarre ET animals that couldn't add one and one."

"Don't worry Lee, we'll figure out something. We always do."

"You haven't gotten lying down yet. I saw though that one like glass."

"Just trying to cheer you up."

"Try harder." 

"How about we get some sleep instead?" It wasn't that late at night, but after everything that had been though . . .

" . . . Why not . . . Maybe I'll be able to think up something in the early morning." Both digimon using their ears as blankets wrapped themselves up at the feet of the ruined abandoned shrine entering dreamland. Guilmon and Calumon still suffering the card's side effects wanted to join them. However, the nightmares from before still haunted one small digimon.

"What's wrong?" Asked Guilmon, Calumon was shaking, maybe was he was cold, the nights had been getting cooler lately, Takatomon had been talking about something called snow coming soon too, Guilmon wondered what that was. 

"I'm scared." Calumon whispered.

"Bout what?"

"When I went to sleep before . . . I . . . I was somewhere else, it wasn't nice, and everyone turned into bad monsters and . . . and Impmon ate me!"

" . . . Oh I know! Those are dreams! Takatomon taught me. They aren't real. And what isn't real can't hurt you."

"But they felt real."

"Dream often do Takatomon said, until you wake up."

"How do you know what's a dream and what isn't?"

"Because you never ask if you're dreaming when you're dreaming . . or . .. something like that, Takatomon seemed upset when I told him I dreamed about going to another world."

"What did it look like?" Asked Calumon his fear giving away to curiosity.

"The first part looked sorta green with yellow mixed in, then it was black with a lot little blue thingies, then it was brown with a lot of dirt."

Calumon knew that Guilmon was talking about the digital world. Had Guilmon ever been there? Calumon's own memories of the computer world were fuzzy. He couldn't be sure, he couldn't remember anything before getting blasted to the physical world by those two big digimon's clash of blows. 

"That's a lonely place." Calumon commented uncharacteristically solemn.

"You been there? But dreams aren't real."

If dreams weren't real. Did Calumon dream the digital world. No, then . . .then were would all the other digimon come from? Calumon was confused, and still didn't feel better about his 'dreams'.

"I'm confused. I wish Takatomon was awake, he'd be able to explain it. Maybe we can wake him up." 

Calumon looked at the big slumbering scaled beast, Jeri sleeping expressionless besides, or rather up against him. Calumon remember what Takato had done to Hadesmon.

"Uh . . . let's not and say we did." Calumon shivered, both from cold and fear. 

Guilmon looked at the little In-Training. He wished he could do something. Then the digimon had his first real growth, no physically, but emotionally. "I'll be here. I'll protect you, don't worry, nothing bad will happen." He assured the infant digimon.

"You mean it?"

Guilmon only wrapped himself protectively around Calumon. The child digimon had to admit, he was warm, and was kinda soft . . . . 

Calumon was spared nightmares this one time, other would not be so fortunate. 

__

Smell, smell prey, hunt prey, kill prey, feed. No know where here is. Smell, smell something, not know what. Know smell. Not know where know smell. head hurt. Human. Human girl. Jerimon. Jerimon friend. Jerimon or Jeri? Jeri Tamer? Not he Tamer? But human Tamer. He no human. But know once Tamer. But not Tamer now. Guilmon. Guilmon? Guilmon digimon. Guilmon his digimon. Made Guilmon. Guilmon child? No not right but . . .

Lee ran, his heart was pounding in his chest. He could hear it coming closer. It wanted to kill him he knew it did. He ran down the stone corridors, the torches giving off just enough light to produce the eerie shadows that dominated the castle. He took a turn, then another, and another, and it still followed him. It wanted him dead. He knew it did. It wouldn't rest until he died. That he would ceased to exist forever! He couldn't let that happen! Suzie needed him! He made another turn, and tripped, it was catching up to him now. He was going to die . . . no! He wouldn't let himself die! He looked around in desperation, there! That suit of armor! It had a mace! He grabbed at it, it wouldn't budge, it was coming closer, it was going to kill him! No! He wasn't going to die without a fight! Its footsteps were coming closer! It would be on him and kill him in a matter of seconds! he saw it's shadow on the floor, in a panic he pulled one final time at the mace, it came free, he hide besides the door, just as it entered he brought the mace down on it's head. Blood formed in a thick pool on the floor where he had killed it. His breathing was labored but he was calm. He looked at the thing, it was brown with violet high lights. 

Jeri wandered around the house of mirrors. She kept rubbing her tailbone, as if expecting something to be there. How had she gotten here? She knew she was looking for something. But she couldn't remember what. She looked at her reflection in the mirror and gasped. It was girl her age, maybe a bit older, red hair done in a samurai style tie-up, she had a gray on black skull and cross bone shirt on with jeans and violet eyes. Icy, dangerous, violet eyes. The girl smirked at her. 

"Who are you?" Jeri whispered.

"I'm who you're becoming. Rika Nonaka. Digimon Queen. And the most stone cold digimon slayer you'll ever met." 

"No, that's crazy . . . you're not me. I'm me!"

"Give it up Jeri. I'm a part of you now. Always will be. It's my Digivice you have. And you'll carry on my legacy of digital carnage."

"No it's not true! I'm me! The only me! I'm Jeri! I've always been Jeri! I'll always be Jeri!"

"You wish."

Jeri noticed a boy with brown hair and a blue sweet shirt standing with his back to her a yard or two away, Takato! She raced up to him and pulled at his shoulder to get his attention. But it wasn't Takato when he turned around, it was that digimon he had turned into from Guilmon. It roared at her. 

Rika was in her grand mother's garden, she never understood why she needed to clean the yard so often, it was stupid in her opinion. Just plan stupid. But . . . this garden was important to Her wasn't it? Her, her grandmother, the only person who had ever shown any concern on who she was, rather than who she wanted her to be. 

"Stop being so weak. You know you want to break free of this life. Stop resisting what you are now Rikamon. or do you prefer Ruki?" That was her voice, but without her ruthlessness and seriousness. Rika looked to see a digimon like Renamon, only smaller, (younger?) and without the gloves or tattoos, her eyes . . . they were the same violet as hers! 

"Who are you?"

"I'm the real you. The true you. Stop trying to pretend you're human anymore and accept your new self." 

Rika looked down her hands, fur was growing. In a force of will it vanished. She rushed up to attack the digimon but fell right though the pound in the center of the garden, and into darkness. 

The digimon, Rikamon, was there in the dark with her. 

"Stop fighting me Rika. You will never be free of the little girl Ruki, until you free yourself completely of your human side."

"I'm already free of her!" her voice was a much higher pitch than it should have been. She looked down and saw she was much shorter and wearing THAT dress. "No . . ."

"Free yourself Rika, accept me, make your true mother proud, disregard your weaknesses."

"Renamon would never wish for me to let go of who I was!"

"So you see who she is."

"My real mother is a vain fashion plate with all the brain power of an ant! She pretends that dad never existed but she's still my mother!"

"Ruki remembers . . . but you don't want to."

"I'm already free of my weaknesses! I'm not control by things like mercy and pity!"

"That's sad you think those are weaknesses."

"They are! They've done nothing but hurt me!" 

"You can't deny what you are now . . . There's no more need to keep yourself behind an iron mask with a heart of stone."

"No . . . no . .. No!" 

"So now what do we do?" Said Kenta. The Tamers had left some time ago and the two were completely bored. 

" . . . Go home I guess."

"Like this?!" He spread out his wings for effect.

"You have any better ideas?"

"Uh . . . no. What are our parents going think?"

"Well, they'll either freak out or think nothing's wrong like Takato's parents."

"Sounds okay, just one question."

"Yea?"

"I can I sleep at your place?"

"No!" Kazu shouted. "What would my mom and dad think if they found out my best friend is a bird!?"

"What would my mom and dad do if they found out you were a lizard?"

"Shut up." Kenta turned his back to Kazu, keeping a stern look on his face.

"You got a tail." Kenta mumbled.

"What!?" all of a sudden, Kazu wasn't so serious anymore. There was a long silence. "Ok! Fine! You know the drill." 

****

-Forty Five Minutes and a pay phone later-

"Hey, mom?" The mostly Owlmon spoke into the receiver. 

His mother's concern was clear every over the telephone. "Kenta? Where are you? I was worried..."

"I'm fine. I'm here at Kazu's place." A lie. They weren't even at his block yet. But it was for a good cause. "And I was wondering if I could stay over the night."

"Fine. But when you get home, we need to speak to you about what you did in school today."

"Eep."

"What? I can't hear you. That phone is really full of static."

That was no static. That was his beak clicking. 

"Ok, bye mom!"

****

-Fifteen Minutes and a half-baked plan later, Kazu's place.-

The lizard boy had come into his family's home solo, his parent only noticed him when he did something wrong, so he wasn't too worried about them spotting him. 

However, "Kazu!"

He stopped dead in his tracks. He'd know his dad's voice of doom anywhere. 

"What are you doing out this late and what's this I hear you ran away from school?"

Kazu's mind couldn't come up with decent lie. "I didn't run away. I just left campus." 

He didn't need to be told to come. Kazu shuffled over to the kitchen table and trying not to make eye contact with his dad, thankfully his weird appearance didn't seem to resister with his parent. 

"Where were you?" He interrogated.

"I went to hang out with my friends." He spoke simply as if that was a perfectly logical retort.

"Your friends tell you to ditch?" He wasn't going to be able to talk his way out of this one. Kazu faked a yawn. 

"Sorry dad. What was that? I'm tired. G'night!" he raced 

briskly down the hall to his room. His dad mumbled something and went back to organizing his briefcase for the following day. Kazu, meanwhile shut his door and listened for any footsteps. Nothing. He tiptoed over to his window and opened it wide. A feathered mass crawled through. Kazu helped Kenta to his feet. 

"Thanks man. I owe ya."

"Yeah, whatever. Just try not to make too much noise or my old man will get suspicious." 

He pulled a blanket out of his closet and set up a makeshift sleeping bag out of view. Kenta gave a half-hearted thanks before hitting the hay. Kazu then too crawled into bed. Neither was really in the mood for talking right now. 

__

The forest, truly my domain. What is that? An enemy. Ah ha! But you can't see me. Wait. Is that a lion? It's looking right at me. But how can it know I'm here? I'm camouflaged! It's coming this way. No! Shoo! Bad kitty! It's not... gonna eat me? What do you mean? Humon?

Kazu was startled back to reality. Someone's hand was clamped around his mouth. A burglar? 

"Dude, I thought you were telling _me_ to be quiet!" It was only Kenta. 

"Sorry. Was I snoring?"

"No you were saying something about a lion."

"Sounds right. But I don't remember anything about it." 

Kenta crawled back into his sleeping bag without another word. Kazu rolled on his side, but just couldn't get back to sleep. "Hey, have you ever had any weird dreams like this?" The only reply he got was a pulsing snore. "Alright. Whatever." Kazu checked the time. His clock was blurry, and hard to focus on. 3:15 AM.

She ran from the scaled beast, racing blindly though the reflective twists and turns. She bumped into a dead end that landed her on her rear. She saw in the mirror a humanoid lioness gazing at her with brown cat eyes. Jeri slowly touched the glass. The mirror shattered as the lioness' claws closed around Jeri's throat. 

The first thing that registered within Jeri's mind when she woke up was that she was against something large and warm. Trying to move she found her arms and legs were stiff from having sat up all night and her tail told her in it's own way that she had been sitting on it all night, what? Tail? Jeri was on her feet in a second; she looked down in shock at the bestial appendage coming out from behind her dress. She looked up at the mass she had been sleeping alongside and was open mouthed at the giant reptile. 

Memories of the last two days hit her in the back of the head like a freight train. Takato going crazy, her finding the Digivice, her new limb, then Hadesmon, and what Takato had become, and done. Jeri felt a shiver go up her tail and back. 

She saw Guilmon and Calumon sleeping a few feet away from her. They looked so peaceful. A destroyed concrete hut was a number of yards away from her, Guilmon's hideout. How did she get here? The last she remembered was Takato looking down at her, then, darkness. What had she been dreaming about (?): mirrors, and none of them reflecting the right way, the human Rika mocking her, the thing Takato had become chasing her, and a lioness trying to kill her. 

Jeri looked at her hands, no, no different from last night. 

"You awake too huh?" Jeri tracked the sound to a couple of branches above her. (Looking at the sky by chance she saw that sunrise was already over, how long had she been asleep?) She saw the brown digimon she knew to be Lee watching her.

"What happened?" All she could ask.

"I guess slashing that many cards gave you and Takato an overload." Or maybe his body had just worn itself out from transforming and it translated over to the . . . the Tamer. Thought Lee grudgingly. When Takato had had his first major change during the battle with Dekugamon he had fainted as well. But Lee guessed it didn't really matter.

Jeri thought for a minute. She asked meekly. "I know this sounds weird but . . . what day is it? After everything that happened last night it's hard to remember." 

Lee sighed. "I know how you feel . . . Friday me and the others fought this rabbit puppet digimon and that was when Takato got sick, then we barely won against a Mega named Duelmon on Saturday and Renamon reached her Champion form for the first time. On Sunday we all started to notice the changes but Rika refused to even consider the chance that we were becoming digimon. Monday was December first, and I think you know what happened to Takato then . . . then yesterday well, very long story. That makes it Wednesday the third I think. Hard to believe it's been less than a week since this whole thing started."

Jeri actually smiled, a distant, half smile, "Heh . . . it's funny, the gym teacher asked me yesterday to try out for the girl's basket ball team next week."

"Jeri . . . there might not BE a girl's basket ball team next week. This plague isn't just physical it's mental. You saw Takato's mom, she didn't think anything of how she looked or that her son was a digimon. Who knows how many carries there are now!"

Jeri spoke much too calmly, it was as if everything happening was just a play she was an actor in. "Maybe if we all wait a few days then we can all go back to school and no one will even notice us." Lee saw her tail lay next to her limply. Pity Takato's cloak had gotten trashed during his change to Guilmon, Jeri could have used it. 

"If someone doesn't bomb the city first." Lee said darkly.

Jeri looked at him alarmed. "What?" 

"Just because this thing's victims aren't going to notice doesn't mean other people won't! Think about it. -Super contagious mutant virus that can destroy mankind- if you were a government official what would be the most sure fire way to make sure it didn't spread any further?"

Jeri tried to offer a defense. "Quarantine the city and work on a cure?"

Lee began ranting. "You have an idea how to cure this? No? Not want to get infected? Most practical way not to get infected? Get ride of everyone who is! . . . Oh no." Lee eyes filled with realization and horror. "Jeri . . . what if someone infected gets on a plane or bus and leaves the city just like that? We could be charter patients of a world wide epidemic!"

Jeri didn't say anything. There was nothing to say. It was like being on the Titanic after all the lifeboats had set sail. All they could do was wait for the end. 

Mr. Wong spoke on the telephone in a frustrated voice. "Look, I'm sorry. But my son's gone missing and my youngest daughter is seriously ill, I can't make the flight . . . . . Threaten me all you want but this is my family I'm dealing with and they come first! . . . Good. Oh my daughter? You wouldn't believe me if I told you. Her appointment? This afternoon, best I could do." He hung up. Suzie was wrapping herself up in blankets; she didn't want her mother or sister to see her like this. She was happy her oldest brother was still out of town. 

It was strange, like any child she had fantasized about being something else, but now that it had entered reality, it was scaring here. 

Last night she had dreamed a giant Terriermon had played with her, slapped a diaper on her and put a bib in her mouth then fed her awful vegetables. She didn't know where she had gotten it from . . . After all, Terriermon had never complained about the tea she always gave him. It wasn't like she didn't know he was alive. 

Kazumon snapped awake at the wretched noise of the

alarm clocked. The Camelionmon's eyes moving to look at the noisy thing without needing to move his head. He slapped his long fingers on the off' key shutting the stupid thing off. Ugh.

Why couldn't it be Saturday already instead of Wednesday? His lifted the alarm clock with his suction pads by accident. Agh! When was he ever going to remember not to do that? With some tricky finger motions he managed to get the thing off as always. Trying to get up he saw that Kentamon was still snoozing, ugh, count on him to sleep through that. He could probably sleep through Takatomon's Pyro Sphere. Who told him he could share the bed? 

Taking hold of the blanket, and using his suction pads for extra grip his yanked the cover away, the force turning the owl Digimon onto the floor. The virus type looked the armor digimon in the eyes, his binoculars' adjusting automatically. 

"Hey what was that for? I was having a great dream!" 

"We skipped school yesterday pal! If we don't show up today Usagimon will download us alive!" The chameleon reminded him.

The bird sighed. "Yea . . . do you think she'll use Cat's Eye and cut us to pieces, or just use Lighting Claw and finish us off in one move?" 

"I don't want to find out, do you?"

"No."

"Then let's get to it!"

Impmon literally had to crawl along the branch. He had had more beatings in the last three days than he had had in his whole life! He could still feel where Sweetie's clone had given him frequent flyer miles with a kick to the face and the burn from the huge demon beast digimon that had barbequed him. He looked down below and was sure he was seeing double. A jumbo sized version of Pea Brain with small size sleeping next to Calumon and two bunny dogs! And to top them all off a human with a tail! Ugh! He must have had a concussion or something! He fainted right on the branch, maybe reality would correct itself by the time he came to. 

Stupid ceiling thought Rika opening her eyes. While she liked sleeping on her back the one draw back was that she always had to look up at that dumb collection of paper and wood every time she woke up. What a freaking weird dream, she definitely didn't like the idea of losing her Digivice, though she had to admit, she sorte liked the idea of having Renamon as a surrogate parent. She realized she wasn't on her back, but curled on her side. Weird. Oh, well.

She sat up, using her hands for balance as she had her legs leap into a sitting crotch position in the blink of the an eye, thinking nothing of it and stood up. She looked down at herself . . . and instantly knew that it had not been a dream. She didn't scream or faint, or shake in fear, she simply fell back on her bed and muttered. "Just peachy." 

"I see you're finally awake. I was beginning to worry." She turned her head and saw her grandmother looking at her from the doorway. (how had she been there?) She was still human. 

"G-grandma?" She said filled with both surprise and relief. 

"Ruki . . . you remember?" The woman said haltingly. 

"Don't call me that." Rika retorted. 

"You DO remember!" Said the old woman happily. "I was afraid I lost you yesterday."

" . . . . How did I end up here? The last thing I remember . . . I was running home, after seeing . . . " She didn't know where the next question came from. "Is mom okay?"

"Fine as ever. You know her. She was out of here at seven, no, she doesn't know what's happened to you or that you're here. But she said she was going to talk to the police about you being missing for 24 hours once today's shoot was done."

Rika spoke carefully. "Grandma, I don't know how I remembered, but whatever changed me . . . hadn't stopped with me, my friends and their families are changing too . . Not the same as me but . . . grandma don't misunderstand what I'm about to say." Since when did she ever care what her grandmother thought? "But why haven't you or mom started changing? This thing infects everyone around it. It . . . it took me roughly three days to . . ." Rika showed her hands for emphasis. "To become this . . . If you had been . . infected, you would be growing fur by now. I don't understand."

The old woman was silent. She didn't know the first thing of what had become of Ruki, or what this change, disease, curse, or whatever was, but it was still a puzzle, and puzzles could be solved. 

The woman spoke solemnly after thinking of an answer. "The flame burns out when it has consumed the wood."

The Kitsune responded confused. "What?"

"Maybe whatever this is, burned out when it finished with you and now there's nothing to pass on to others."

"I started having dizzy spells on Saturday though."

"I don't really know what this is so I'm just guessing. But maybe if this is a disease then perhaps it was still fighting your immune system at the time . . . And Ruki . . . I saw how you acted around that woman kitesune . . . You can't say anymore that your cold blooded attune is just who you are now. When you forgot you were human, you forgot to be hard, you forgot to seal yourselves off from others."

"You were with us for barely a minute!" Rika argued.

She spoke in no uncertain tone. "I'm your grandmother Ruki! I know these things!"

"Stop calling me that! That's not who I am anymore!"

"Then who are you?" She spoke sternly. 

Rika didn't answer and only got up and started going through her dresser, no way any of her cloths could fit her body shape anymore. She grunted. She did however find a spare hair brace. She took the fur at the back of her head and attempted to do her samurai tie up style. Neither Rika nor her grandmother reacted much when Renamon came out of shadow form next to her daughter.' The kitesune mana had been watching the entire affair, feeling like an intruder and thus kept out. She had been relieved when she discovered Rika inside her home and her family still human. But now she had to intervene.

Renamon took one look at Rika's . . . hairstyle. "Rika . . ."

"Yes?" She said casually as if this was any day.

"I could never lie to you, you look absolutely absurd like that."

"This . . thing made me forget who I was yesterday! I want to have something to remind me of who I really am."

"I'm starting to think that it made you forget who you're supposed to pretend to be . . . . Rika, when I lost my kite I shut myself off from my emotions, and I'll tell you right now, not feeling can some times feel worse than not feeling at all. At least when you're feeling you know you're alive. And I've done what you've done, tried to fill that void by fighting, I'm going to tell you right now! The void is only going to get bigger Rika! And one day you're going to wake up all alone and wonder why!"

Rika snarled. "Will everyone please stop saying that!"

"The truth hurts doesn't it!? You Rika! You were the only thing that filled that void Rika! All my victories were empty until I met you!" Silence. Renamon spoke in a softer tone. "And by the way . . . " She slowly undid the useless tie-up. Rika didn't stop her. "Since when have you ever been concerned about appearances?" 

Rika looked at her furred and clawed hands, when HAD she been concerned about appearances? . . . Then why had she always hated wearing dress' for her mother? Maybe she cared about them too, just not the way her mother did. Her mother . . . she felt a heavy feeling in her gut with a stiff tail thinking of her parent infected, not the dark amusement she thought she would feel at the mental image of all her mom's shoots being ruined from her becoming a Numamon or something.

Jeri had been too exhausted to notice her injuries from the day before, but as her brain came on at full her body told her just how hurt she was. 

The hair and skin on her arms were burned along with both her dress and the fur and skin on her chest. And right now Jeri was beginning to feel it. It was none too pleasant. 

As far as her change went, her face had been left alone, and her senses were still what they had been before as far she could tell for the moment. Jeri wondered idly why the change had seemed to stop after Rika's Digivice had changed color. 

As for her dress, she was glade she wore a yellow undershirt or she'd be showing skin right now. It was splattered with blood and covered with burn marks. She looked a wreak. But after last night, she guessed she should be grateful to still be alive. 

Jeri sighed. Despite her injuries, she was right, she was lucky to still be alive and not dead. But then again, she was turning into something that wasn't human... She sighed and looked at the sky.

Lee was checking out the others Given the fact they had gone up against a demon digimon, he guessed they were all amazingly well off. 

Calumon began to stir and sat up looking at Lee. 

"How are you?" Said Lee not knowing what else to say. 

"I feel a lot better than I did last night. I think Guilmon kept the nightmares away and . . . it feels like something's back." 

Lee had been too much into the heat of battle to notice last night, but Calumon's forehead symbol had been close to a dead black last night, now it was only a dark crimson. He wondered what it meant. How was he connected to their status as Tamers and their Digivices?

A massive moan told the party that Takato was waking up. One giant red eye opened and the rookie Tamer saw her startled and apprehensive reflection in it.

"Jer . . . . ri?" Said the deep voice of the champion dragon digimon.

"Takato you in there?" Asked Lee concerned.

". . . Lee . .. .?" Whispered the massive beast. _he didn't say 'Leemon', well that was a good sign. _Though the former human.

Kazu dragged his half-conscious body to the bathroom and flicked on the light. _Wait a minute..._ Their conversation had finally reached his brain. "Usagimon? How did I know..." Kazu saw his own reflection. His eyes were totally protruding from his face, and he could even move them! His scales were a dark green, and he could feel a tail swishing around behind him. "Aw, man!" 

"Are you done with the bathroom? I gotta go." Except for the fact that Kenta was still human-sized, he was completely an owl Digimon! 

"I wake up before any of my folks. Maybe we can get out of here before they see us." Kazu plotted. He decided not to brush his teeth today and just get dressed. At least he still had teeth. 

"Dude, Digimon don't wear clothes." Kenta sounded confident in that. 

"I'm not a Digimon! I'm... humon. I think. Oh forget it! Look, I'd just feel better if I wasn't walking around naked!"

"Hey! I have feathers!" Kenta defended. 

****

-Five minutes, being reminded what humon' means, and a hasty breakfast later-

"Think we should go to school at all given our . . . change?"

"I dunno. Usagim... Mrs. Usagi might call our parents."

Kazu grabbed a pop tart from the toaster and his bag, then locked the door. Kenta was waiting outside. Neither had had a chance to do their homework from yesterday, but given this was them they were talking about, it wasn't likely to be noticed.

Kenta looked at the sky, his beak somehow making a smirk. "Heh I'll beat you there if I go by air Kazumon."

The lizard digimon opened his mouth to say something, but then close it. He knew there was something wrong with that name . . . he just couldn't remember what right now.

"Well... I thought you two might be hungry," Rika's grandmother brought a tray into sight. There were two bowls, with what looked like oatmeal, on it. 

"Thank you." Renamon took the tray from the old lady's arms. 

"I'm not hungry."

Renamon looked at her. "Rika, you haven't eaten anything for days!" 

"So?" 

"You're going to get ill." Her grandmother informed her.

"Look, one mom is bad enough. I don't need three! I'm going outside. Maybe I'll be back later." 

Rika leapt through the window and was gone.

Okay, Rika thought, cheap excuse. But she still had her pride. As meaningless and hallow it was becoming. Her mother had dragged her along on more shopping trips than she wanted to remember. She knew all her stops. Perhaps Rika was being over protective, and of her own mother! Whom she hated the guts of for crying out load! but Rika had to check on her: to see if she was changing as well, and if not, to keep both her family members out of change's way until it had burned itself out, if her grandmother's theory held true.

She considered finding a disguise, just so she could communicate with her mother in the open, but she doubted anything except a sheet ghost costume would fit her lupine body shape. Weren't Kitesune Mana's supposed to be able to assume human form? Ugh! She was going to have to ask Renamon about it. 

She leaped onto the garden wall and bounded off and onto a neighboring rooftop, her movements were second nature to her now, her body acted as if she had done these things all her life. Whatever this virus was, it acted fast. Maybe it was the speed at which the change took place that had caused her human persona to drown out. 

Rika shivered, her human memories and the false ones her digimon self had created were both as clear as crystal to her, only the reasoning part of her brain allowed her to tell them apart, it scared her. 

-Half and hour later and a lot of frustration-

Dammit! Why did her mother haft to have such a broad taste in clothing stores?! Rika had been to three already and no sign of the woman.

Rika started when she realized something that almost made her miss a telephone poll. Her school! There was no telling how many people she had infected when she was there! There might no way to contain this thing! Oh Kami.

"What is it, Takato?" Lee responded.

Now fully awake, Takato rolled on his side to look Lee straight in the eye. His eye was bigger than the Lopmon's whole body. "I don't wanna be huge anymore." He moaned.

"Jeri, last night you used cards on Takato. Do you think you could do it again?" Jeri took out her Digivice, which Lee had returned earlier that morning. Takatomon was worried. _Jeri can Digimodify me? I don't like the sound of that. Everything is kinda unclear after I saw Hadesmon coming at Jeri. Hey, where's Guilmon?_ He stomped away were his nose told him his digimon was. 

"Um... what card should I use?" Jeri reached into her handbag and drew an address book-size card album. Lee spread his ears and hovered onto her shoulder. "That one!" he let one of his chocolate colored ears flop onto an Alias card.

"Okay. Hey! Where's Takato?" It took only a moment to see he was only a few yards away.

"Come back here!" Lee hollered.

Takato turned at Jeri and Lee, and the pair saw he was sniffing the still sleeping Guilmon and Calumon. 

Lee was relieved Takato's feral side hadn't over-ridden his mind. After seeing what Takato did to Hadesmon it was not that far a fetched fear.

"Yes?" The red reptile said plainly.

"Uh . . . " Lee stuttered. "Can you stand still? I want to see if Jeri can Modify you like she did last night."

Takato groaned. He wasn't sure which he was more irked at: being DigiModified or the clear imply that Jeri was his Tamer. 

"Alright," Jeri felt a little bad treating Takato like just another Digimon. "Here I go.

DigModify

Alias Card**: ACTIVATE!**"

Takatomon's data burst off of him, leaving a much smaller Guilmon squatting in the middle of a pixilated cloud. 

"Oh yippee. I'm me again!" he sarcastically remarked.

"No you're not. If you were really you, then you'd be a human." Lee reminded. 

"I can eat you in one bite, you know." At least his human side had resurfaced for the split second.

"...er, well..." Lee was nervous. 

"Takato, would you really eat Lee?" Jeri asked.

"If I got hungry enough. Naw, he's too stringy anyways." Takato jabbed Guilmon's side with his snout. "Psst. Hey, wake up. Look! It's the pizza truck."

"No its not!" Guilmon mumbled entering the waking world. He rolled over and opened his eyes about halfway, "If it were, I would have already smelled it."

Jeri and Lee laughed.

"Well, I'm just happy I'm at least normal sized." Takatomon said with a tooth-filled grin "So, what now?"

Lee crossed his arms. "One thing's for certain. No way are we going though that song and dance we did yesterday after Takato stole those burgers."

"Stole?" Jeri knew they had been in the city jail of course, but still . . . hearing it from Lee's mouth. "Couldn't you have just bought it?"

Lee did his best to explain. "I didn't have any cash left in my wallet and Takato didn't have any money. And we couldn't exactly go home looking like this." 

Jeri stayed silent, she understood Lee's reasoning, but still, stealing? She hoped they didn't have to resort to that today. 

Lee looked at Jeri, her tail hanging in grime foresight. Wait a minute.

"Jeri . . . " Lee said. "I just realized something. You haven't changed one bit since we ran into you. But when we were all infected the change had different degrees of speed, but it never actually stopped."

Jeri, looked at her hands, save for the claws she discovered last night at Takato's they looked like the same she had been born with. "Maybe I'm just due for a growth spurt."

"Maybe . . ." Lee mumbled. "Maybe not. Then again, it's not like we have any way to test this thing anyway. . . And anyone who has any idea on how to get breakfast without making the police angry be my guest." 

"Won't they still be looking for Takato and Guilmon?"

"There's no way they still think they're in their 'costumes'. And we can assume they'll have more important things to worry about."

"Like what?"

"Jeri . . . what did I just say before Takato came to? This virus is spreading! And you were there with Takato's parents. Imagine people going around changing and not even realizing they are, and people who are changing and realize it and panic accordingly. This may sound cliche' but the tides of chaos are upon us."

"Maybe . . . maybe it'll just burn itself out." Jeri suggested, like Takato had when he discovered his was infected, she too was looking for ways out that did not exist. "Maybe it can only spread so far. Maybe . .. maybe it's only temporarily."

"You can't make a caterpillar out of a butterfly Jeri." 

"So we just wait for the world to become digimon!"

"I didn't say that! I'm just saying that we have to approach this impending nightmare realistically or we're going to end up swept in it too."

Jeri's tail came up to her waist pointed right at him. "Too late." She said plainly. 

Lee thought. There had to be a way to keep this thing from spreading, and for finding a cure . . . dammit if only he knew what they were dealing with! A glitch? A virus? A bug? An emulation or conversion program? What?! 

Lee looked at Jeri, then Takato, then back again.

"Let's go to my place. Jeri? I'll need your Digivice along with the rest (after I dig mine out) when we get there. Maybe with my computer I can get the coding for these things and at least figure out if there's any connection or difference, maybe it can help me find out what caused this."

Jeri looked at her D-Ark. "Just one small problem."

"Yes?"

"It's not like these things are Windows or Mac compatible and or have a plug in."

Ugh! He HAD forgotten about that.

Four empty desks in a classroom. Two had an endless collection unorganized homework assignments, a third had in it a archive of original Digimon: Digital Monsters artwork that was the passion of the desk's normal user. The forth was cleanly set and straight save for a doggy sock puppet discarded like garbage in the desk's drawer. The first bell of school range.

Kazu and Kenta were stunned. They had just peered into the school grounds to make sure no one was watching and now this! Everywhere, kids were in groups. One little boy, younger than them, was showing off a cluster of scales on his forearm. Another kid, older, was pointing to a crest of feathers that had just sprouted behind his ear. Of course, there were some kids whom still seemed to be totally normal. 

"They're... changing?" Kazu stammered. 

"What have we done!" Kenta, equally terrified, muttered.

"WE! It was Takato and the other guys who had it first! We didn't do anything. _They_ did. Got it?" 

__

Yep. That's Kazu, never one to take the blame. Kenta would never tell him that to his face though, their friendship meant too much to him. 

"How far do you think it's gotten?" 

"Well, I see one little kid over there who has fins instead of ears."

"Ok, everyone! To class!" a female voice broke the chaos. 

Kenta was in awe. 

"Is that..."

"Usagimon?" They rang in unison. 

~ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Just to note, while Max designed Hadesmon, I came up with the idea of the souls he separates being deposited in his belt buckle from an issue of Knights of The Dinner Table.

Just to be fair, I'll say right now (again) the Hypnos crew isn't my favorite people. 

I'm proud of my Growlmon versus Hadesmon fight in this chapter, what did you think of it? Seriously. 

And as long as I know there's one person out there whose enjoying this story for the story's sake, I'll, we'll, keep on writing. 

On a side note: there is a God. My computer DIED (i.e. kept crashing on start up then wouldn't start up at all) for a few minute, then I prayed and BOOM it's working again. (Long enough for a back-up copy to be made at least, let that be a lesson, as my collage teacher said, back-up EVERYTHING'.)

Flames, comments, good or bad, corrections, suggestions, reactions, rants, ideas on what should happen next (very welcome), and the occasional constructive criticism all-welcome. 

Spelling corrections also welcome as long as you tell what you think of the story itself too. 

Please, don't **just** write MORE!' those reviews kinda leave me empty.


	7. Reconnaissance One

Okay, brand new foreword: 

First, after three long months my computer is back on-line. But the web site where this story was kept is still down. I kinda went into shock after it happen since it had four chapters on it that hasn't been put on ff.net yet. I thankfully had part seven on my computer. But lost heart. Some VERY good friends it turns out had part some of part eight. But still leaves part nine and ten lost to the void. So we need to start from the very beginning! (Well the beginning of around part nine) 

Gomen/sorry/apologizes to anyone who was waiting for the next part. It's my honor to know there are people out there waiting for the next part. Where you? Seriously. 

Fionn, and Aaron Max wrote this part too and this story wouldn't exist without them. 

Anyway, all I need to know is that people are being made happy by this. So let's get this party . . . guess it's already started.

Also, I will take this chance to give a VERY LARGE thank you to the great pre-reader AND co-writer Charles M. Bonanno who has been kind enough to pre-read this chapter and breath life and soul into this when I had lost the heart to, after the disaster at the tsfmb.sonicfoundation.org message board. You would NOT be reading this in any shape or form if was not for him. Oh yea, Fionn you gave it a decent spell check, thanks a million! 

I have not been able to get into contact with Max since the vanishing of the site, but maybe, just maybe with Fionn and Charles, maybe I can get this story going again. What do you think?

"Reguardless of warnings the future doesn't care me at all!" -"Hikari", opening of Kingdom Hearts. 

___________________________

Usagimon wasn't having a good day. After rudely awakening the

semi-digitized woman from a wonderful dream of an endless gorging on

catnip, fish and cream served in gold saucers, the shattered remains

of her alarm clock would've agreed wholeheartedly if it could. Her

reflexive Lighting Claw attack had ended its first strident chime a

fraction of a second after it began. Not finding any fresh cream for

her first cup of the day, and having to make due with milk, only made

her mood that much darker.

Only its size keep her car from sharing her clock's fate when it

refused to start, and she was forced to carry the day's lesson plans

onto a public bus filled with people giving her the oddest stares.

The very idea was preposterous, but her fellow passengers were acting

like they'd never seen a Gatomon before.

Matters didn't get any better, of course, when she walked into the

first class of the day and did role call. Four of her students were

still missing, and a nagging feeling that something was amiss was

triggering yet another stress headache.

She could expect Kenta and Kazu to skip school, and after what Takatomon

did to her the other day, she wasn't surprised in the slightest that

he hadn't shown his face this morning... but Jeri? And the fact that

they'd all gone missing around the same time didn't bode well. She

made a mental note to call their parents during her first break

between classes.

Idly rubbing the thin layer of white fur covering her forehead, she

began to wonder if the young dinosaurian had given her a virus or

something when he attacked and bit her. Next time she saw him

Usagimon promised to kick him so hard he'd fly out of school and land

on his hard head somewhere in New York City! Still, the Rookie had always

been a daydreamer but never a troublemaker. She blamed herself for

not noticing his odd behavior sooner. Maybe a little more attention

and kindness on her part could've avoided the painful incident in the

first place.

Back when she had helped call the students in for first period, her cat-like

senses ironically failed detect two of her missing students. With

only a green-scaled muzzle and a yellow beak poking above the

courtyard wall, both youngsters stared at her in amazement.

There she was, Kenta and Kazu thought: their teacher, or what they

assumed was their teacher. It was plainly obvious that, just like

Takato's mom, Miss Usagi was taking her transformation in stride, or

was simply unable to detect the gradual changes.

.

From head to toe her human proportioned body was covered in a layer of

snow white fur. Her eyes, though still their original color, were

twice their normal size and had irises the shape of a cat's. She

still wore her usual clothing. "Thank goodness!", Kazu thought. He

was sure he'd never recover from the mental trauma of seeing his

homeroom teacher completely naked.

Tufted by a violet hued patch of fur, a long white and purple stripped

tail snaked out from under her dress. Her ears were extremely

cat-like but still positioned like a human's on the sides of her

head. Both were tipped by long strands of fur that matched the color

of the fur growing on the end of her tail, and stood out boldly from

the unaltered hair still covering her head. Her hands showed only a

vague resemblance to Gatomon paws. All five digits were still

present, but thick black claws similar to the feline cartoon

character's were beginning to replace her fingernails.

Height wise, Miss Usagi hadn't started to shrink radically yet, but

Kazu was convinced she was an inch or two shorter than yesterday. And she

wasn't the only one to failing to notice her gradual transformation

into a digimon. Except for one girl wondering aloud where Miss Usagi

had purchased such an expensive looking skin-tight fur coat, and

another girl's insistent reply that it wasn't bought but grew

naturally on all Gatomon, the teacher's ... condition... went

unnoticed.

All this might change, Kazu mused, as playtime expired and the kids

started to go inside. If someone started screaming, THEN the boys

would know people were beginning to notice something was very wrong,

if not . . . it might be time to come out of hiding and go to class.

Thinking she'd counted everyone, Usagimon turned and practically

leaped up the stairs and into the building.

"Hello." She said to one of her fellow teachers as she walked past

him.

"No screams yet." The owl digimon said, as he made ready to follow her

into the school. Kazu, being the more cautious of the two, grabbed a

handful of the other boy's tail feathers and yelled, "But she's

wearing clothing! You're not birdbrain! Wait for it . . ." The lizard

boy yelled.

"Clothing?" Kenta replied sounding totally confused.

"Yeah. Clothing. Not everyone runs around in their birthday suit. Some

digimon DO wear clothing you know. Weregarurumon has jeans, and

Myotismon wears a bad tuxedo."

"Fine . . . point taken, but I don't really see the point of wearing

anything when you're covered like me."

"A sense of decency?" Kazu replied.

"But I'm not showing anything." Kenta defended.

Before the lizard-boy could open his large jaws to retort, an

ear-piercing scream of terror erupted from inside the school. It

looked like someone had finally noticed something peculiar about a

certain... person... walking towards him or her. With a huge

I-told-you-so smile on his scaly face, Kazu followed Kenta as they

raced towards the entrance.

Meanwhile, a short distance away...

Lee looked at Jeri's D-Arc in gloom. "And to top that, Jeri, taking

one of these things apart might be the last mistake we ever make. Do

you have any idea how the innards of these D-vices work? If we goof

we might end up erasing all the data in there... or worse!"

Lee felt so damn helpless! All his self-defense classes were useless

against this enemy!

"Jeri?"

"Yes?" The girl replied without looking down at Lee's diminutive

figure. Holding her arms stiffly by her sides, rather than behind her

back as she normally did when deep in thought for fear of breaking

the rapidly healing scabs on her chest, she waited silently for Lee

to continue.

"You can still pass for a human being." Lee explained. "I'll give you

my home address. I want you on check on all our families, including

Rika's and yours too. If you can, find out how far the infection has

spread in the school. Right now we have no idea if it's only a few or

a large number of kids and teachers. While you're gone, I'll try to

figure out a way to tell the police a mutagenetic virus has been

unleashed in the city without them thinking we're crazy or from Mars."

"Where should I go to first?" Asked Jeri. She couldn't think of a

better plan and Lee's was better than doing nothing.

"You should head to the school first. Then your place, then Takato's,

then Rika's, and finally mine." The digimon spoke in a business-like

tone.

"Why do yours last?" Asked Jeri curious.

"I have to put others before myself."

"I understand . . . but what if I start changing again?"

Lee didn't hesitate. "Get back here ASAP. Now help me draw a map. I

know Takato had some of his pencils and paper in his shorts before he

tore them apart. I don't want to risk you getting lost."

At that moment, Miss Usagi, the partially digivolved Gatomon Usagimon,

was praying someone would do exactly that. 

"Okay, Maury. What's your problem... this time?" Usagimon inquired as

she wondered what insignificant event had triggered the weird little

man's hysterical screaming. Maury was equally dumbfounded and barely

able to point at her in open-mouthed disbelief.

Quickly losing patience, she rose from her chair and pointed a

claw-tipped finger in the screaming man's face before slamming the

door shut, "Don't you have your own class to teach?"

Rude, but effective. Why the principal put up with his antics was

beyond her.

"Ok, kids. Settle down!" she bared her claws and everyone hushed up

mid-word. Just then the door creaked open. "Maury, I said... oh. Look

who finally decided to show up, class. The winners of the award for

most time spent in after-school detention for three years running.

"Detention?" Both kids replied hoping she'd been joking. No such luck.

"Detention. Look it up in the dictionary. You should know the drill by

now. Sit. Now!" She replied as she moved towards her desk.

"Wow, here for 10 seconds and we've already been given detention,"

Kazu whispered to his buddy. "That shaves five seconds off our best

time this year!"

Their classmates looked at them in amazement as they walked towards

their seats.

"Dude, you're further gone than any of us!"

"You rock!"

"Can I have a feather, Kenta?"

Both kids were stunned. Their peers were hailing them for being

infected sooner? That was different.

--------------------------------

As Kenta tried to avoid new-found fans from plucking him bald, Jeri

and Lee poked though what little remained of Takato's jeans. As

Takato and Guilmon kept each other company nearby, Lee removed a

small wire-backed note pad and several colored pencil stubs only to

discover a new problem: Paws are good for walking and digging, not

writing.

His penmanship was even worse than usual, but semi-readable with a

little practice. After painfully scrawling a list of addresses, he

handed the entire pad to Jeri.

"Remember, don't get involved in anything." He cautioned. "Just check

things out and head back here."

"Right . . . " Said Jeri unsure.

"You okay?"

"I . . . I'm a bit overwhelmed. And the picture you painted was

bleak."

"I'm scared me too . . ." Lee admitted. "Just hurry back Jeri . . ."

He smirked. "And if you can brown bag something from the cafeteria

while you're there, please don't hesitate." This should properly show how desperate for food the group was.

"I'll try." Jeri smiled.

Jeri took one more look glance at the distracted Takato and took off.

Takato instantly raised his head from where he was talking with

Guilmon and spun around to follow.

"And where are you going?" Lee asked instantly suspecting the truth.

"Jeri I . . . I . . I need to be near her."

"And it feels like a hole in your heart when she's not here?" A sleepy

digimon voice asked from several feet away.

Lee turned to see that his twin had finally awoken. "Welcome to the

waking world, Terriermon. And what was that you were talking to

Takato about?"

"I was only asking him that because that's sorta how I feel when

you're not close, Lee."

"Well," Takato thought, "Sorta? Wait a second! Does that mean...

Jeri's my Tamer?! Aw, great! I've gone from Tamer to Tamed. Not

fair!" He stomped the ground close to the long-eared digimon to

endanger them with his huge talons.

"Eep! Hey, watch it!" Terriermon shouted.

"Sorry Takato," Lee blew his ear off his face, "But you'd just slow

her down."

"Not true! She could ride around on me. I could be her noble steed!"

Everyone had a sweat-drop on their forehead. "Ok, that was pretty

lame, even for lava-breath over there." Terriermon commented. Lee

shushed his friend and said, "You're too big, Takato. You'd stand out

like a big scaly thumb. Just stay here until Jeri returns."

Growing angrier by the second, Takato stomped again. "You're not my

Tamer! You can't make me!"

Lee tried to reach the reasoning part of Takato's brain.

"Uh, Takato-kun." He said meekly. "You've dedigivolved to rookie.

Remember? You're simply aren't strong or big enough to act as Jeri's

'Noble steed'."

Takato swung his large head in the Lopmon's direction. "I digivolved?"

"Don't you remember?" Said Lee and Terriermon replied simultaneously.

"No." Was the simple reply.

Lee did his best to be patient.

"What's the last thing you do remember?"

"I remember Hadesmon about to cleave Jeri in half. I remember feeling

a strong urge to protect her and . . . then it's gets kinda hazy. I'm

remember getting angry. Very angry."

"Anything else, Takato?" Terriermon asked.

"Pain. Lots of pain. A sudden flood of new strength followed by even

more anger and hunger. Some kind of pleasure. Hunger goes away and

then... then . . . then . . . I can't remember anything else."

He was silent for a second before adding.

" . . . And it's Takatomon."

Terriermon and Lee just looked at each. They didn't need to say

anything. Takato's human memories were toast. His relapse to remembering 

he was a tamer hadn't done any good. Lee wondered if it'd be

worth the effort to remind him that his name wasn't supposed to have

a 'mon' at the end. At least they succeeded in getting his mind off

following Jeri.

"Anybody want to play?" Calumon was awake . . . Lee almost preferred

another evil digimon would show up . . . almost.

Calumon's ears retracted when he noticed someone was missing. "Where's

Jeri?"

"She went to see how badly other people were changing besides us." Lee

replied.

"Other people?" Calumon suddenly didn't feel very good. It was

reminding him of his nightmare.

"Lee . . ." Calumon looked into the former human's eyes and

practically begged, "can you promise me something?"

"Sure. What?" Said Lee replied surprised by the uncharacteristically

solemn tone coming from the fun-loving child-like digimon.

"Promise you won't eat me . . ."

Lee took a step back and nearly tripped over one of his ears. The

genuine fear shinning from the little digimon's eyes twisted his

stomach into a knot.

_________________

As Lee struggled to stand upright, Jeri found his last words had been

right on the money. With a little care, she could indeed pass herself

off as normal. As long as she didn't accidentally unsheathe her

claws, or uncoiled the tail wrapped around her waist, none of the

people she passed would ever have a clue a non-human creature had

been in their midst.

Unlike her tail's warm embrace, her troubled thoughts gave her little

comfort: What were she and the others going to do? It might already

be too late to contain this bizarre plague if the school was

infected. The human race would become just another extinct species

future generations of digimon children would learn about in their

history books.

--------------------------------

If prizes were given for gloomy thoughts, Jeri would have to step

aside as Lee accepted the winning prize. Taken completely off guard

by the question and the fear he saw in the little digimon's eyes, his

mind raced in circles trying to recall what possible thing he

might've said, or done, to terrify the most harmless being he'd ever

encountered.

It took him a few seconds to get his thoughts in order to reply, 

"You're being silly. Of course I won't eat you. You're my friend!"

Lee had to stop and think some more: What could make Calumon think I'd

want to eat him? Calumon didn't... more likely couldn't... wait for

Lee to explain further. He quickly exhausted an attention span

measurable in nanoseconds and tugged on Terriermon's ear. Both

digimon were instantly wrestling on the grass and laughing like mad.

----------------------------------

Laugher was the furthest thing from Jeri's mind. Her first goal was

still far away, and she'd been running long enough to be very tired. 

Under the shade of a large tree, she stopped and leaned against a

stone wall to catch her breath.

"Hey, the library. *pant* That reminds me... I'd better return those

books before the end of the world!" Laughing ruefully at her own joke,

she stepped around the tree and almost tripped over a bike rack.

"Hrrm... now there's a thought."

Seeing no one nearby, she tensed the muscles in her fingers until

sharp claws extended from their tips. She took one swipe at a nylon

rope, and a bike fell onto the pavement with a metallic clatter.

Mentally promising the unknown owner she'd return with their

property, she mounted the 'borrowed' bike and pedaled off.

-----------------------------------

Given a choice, Kazu and Kenta would've happily joined her. Both sat

in their seats fidgeting nervously due to the unusual attention they

were getting from their class mates. Both of their desktops were

covered with tiny scraps of paper... notes asking all kinds of

questions concerning the progress of their transformations, or

requests for scales or feather as souvenirs. If Usagimon caught them

passing all theses notes back and forth, there'd be hell to pay.

-----------------------------------

Attention was the last thing Rika was getting. As she paused her

search in an alley to catch her breath, she had looked all over

trying to catch a glimpse of her mother. Zip. Not even a single

strand of yellow hair. If the woman was anywhere

nearby, even Rika's heightened digimon senses couldn't spot her.

"This is getting me no where, " Rika said to her self "I should probably

see what's happening at my school. She just might be there and it's

not like I have anything better to do."

--------------------------------------

Calumon's answer to Rika's predicament... and pretty much everything

else... was well underway.

"That's Calumon." Lee thought as he watch the little digimon's

wrestling match with Terriermon. "He can forget his troubles in a

second. Wish I could afford that luxury."

The truth was, Calumon being scared or depressed was somehow more

disorienting than anything that'd happened to Lee all week. And that

included his transformation.

"I couldn't eat him. Could you?" Said Takato looking down at Lee.

Had Takato somehow designed an overwhelming interest in food into the

guilmon species?

"Of course not, what kind of question is that?"

"Just asking." Takato replied tersely. For lack of anything better

thing to do, Lee did a quick head count. Everyone was awake. Guilmon

looked like he wanted to join in the fun with Calumon and Terriermon,

but he was obviously fighting to hold himself back. Perhaps

instinctively, he knew he'd only wind up crushing them if he tried.

----------------------------------------

Another instinct, a human instinct, was telling Kazu that something

was definitely not right.

Usagimon? Kazu knew that name was wrong but . .. ugh! Something was

literally eating away at the back of his head. He had to remember he

was human... was humom... was what? Aside from people looking a

little odd, nothing seemed radically different or likely to change

that much. Unless there was something that hadn't surface yet. 

But that was silly. Right?

-------------------------------------

Jeri and Rika would given a sarcastic "Right!" if they heard Kenta's

question.

Arriving at their respective schools at roughly same time. Jeri knew

she was late for class and had skipped out on school yesterday, but

somehow breaking her perfect attendance record was generating far

less guilt than she'd normally expect. She looked at the yellow

digivice again. "Could Rika's data be really rubbing off on me?", she

thought. "But that's silly. Right?"

Anyway, odd thoughts aside, she might as well check on the students to

see how many others had been infected. (she just hoped they hadn't

passed the infection along to their unsuspecting families)

----------------------------------

Talking about odd thoughts.

Maury's first had been to call the police. Followed immediately by the

fire department, several ambulances filled with paramedics, ending up

with an emergency trip and deposit to the nearest zoo. He finally he

settled on a news crew and biohazard squad.

Thankfully, he wasn't the only one to notice Usagi's . . . alteration.

Several other teachers had done so as well, but were maintaining a

more discreet, and hopefully safer, distance. Without their

confirmation, he never would've dared to make the phone calls. People

who did things like that usually found huge men in white coats

knocking on their doors.

------------------------------

Rika could've used those men to track down her mother.

Despite her best effort, she'd found no sign of her mother's car.

People normally choose to walk or bike in Japan, so it shouldn't have

been hard to spot. Usually her mother preferred to carry on that

tradition too, but the shocking violet car's parking space had been

vacant when she'd had taken off. (it amazed Rika herself that she had

noticed that)

Rika thought back upon the day they'd purchased it together. (Rika had

been an unwilling companion, of course) Someone had asked her mother

what her little sister's name was. Ugh! That scenario had repeated

itself more often than Rika liked. Her mother was only seventeen

years older than her. And . . . just something in Rika's biology told

her something was wrong about that.

For the millionth time, she took a moment to wonder about her father.

Probably just some guy looking for a trill who charmed her mother

into his bed for a night. Shaking her head violently, Rika pushed the

thoughts aside and tried to concentrate on the here and now.

----------------------------

Maury was using all of his concentration just to pick up the phone.

Despite his best effort to remain calm, his hand still shook as he

raised the phone to his ear. He knew something bad could happen,

especially to him, but he was determined to do it anyway. After three

tries, he finally managed to punch in the correct number.

"KDOT TV, how may I direct your call?" a female voice chimed from the

receiver.

"I... uh... I'd like to report... well, it's... for the news. At East

Oakaiwa. See... there's something weird."

"Sir, could you elaborate a bit?"

"No. I can't just... send the news crew. Please."

Maury hung up. One second longer and he would've cracked from anxiety.

He plopped down against the wall. He'd have to rest and store up his

confidence to call the biohazard squad next. Would they believe him?

------------------------------

Jeri too was working on building up her confidence. She'd just parked

'her' bike in the school's bike rack where, hopefully, no one would

notice the extra bike. Doing her best to avoid being caught, she

decided a very quick peek would be best.

She sneaked around to the first window she saw and slowly raised her

head. Jeri looked through the glass and sighed a breath of relief.

"Whew. All normal." She was about to crawl to the next window of the

next class when she felt a hand grab the back of her dress. She

gulped and slowly turned expecting the worse. 

"Oh, great. What if it's the security guard I KO'd? Ok, Jeri. Play it

cool and maybe I can talk my way out of this." she thought.

"Jeri?"

She was taken aback. "Rika?" Jeri turned her head just enough to see

an anthropomorphic kitsune Digimon holding her.

"You scared me."

"You shouldn't have been creeping around." Rika replied.

"I'm checking to see if other kids were infected too."

"Yes, I've already checked. Most classes are normal, but a few kids

are changing. I found Kazu and Kenta, both are almost fully

transformed. Their class seems to be the most heavily infected also."

"Really?" Jeri replied before it hit her how obvious it was. It was,

after all, her class too. It made sense that the virus's effects

would show up there first and be the most pronounced.

"Rika what about the kids at your school?" Jeri realized Rika could have spread the infection there too. 

"Already been there." Rika said, doing her best to make it sound unimportant. "Spotted some girls who aren't going to be showing off their looks anymore." 

"Can you come with me to take a look at my class? I want to see it for myself." 

Without another word, Rika nodded and silently motioned for Jeri to

follow her.

-------------------------------------

Impmon would've appreciated the silence too.

"Would you losers keep it down?" Came a scratchy voice above the

pairs. "Some people are trying to sleep up here . . ." Impmon, and

from what Lee saw, he looked like he had gotten run over by a turnip

truck. A big one. The little devil looked from digimon to former human

to digimon and moaned putting his hands to his head. "Oh great I'm

still seeing double! Toots' clone must of hit me even harder than I

thought. . . ."

"You're not seeing double." Said Lee plainly.

"Wha!" Impmon's eyes grew wide. He managed to point a finger at Lee.

"That voice! It's higher but . . ." The rookie digimon's eyes rolled

in their sockets as he fainted. With a dull thud he bounced off

Guilmon's head and crashed face-first onto the ground.

"Some people just can't handle stress." Commented Terriermon.

Terriermon noticed Calumon taking a quick step back from the

unconscious virus type.

"What wrong Calumon?" Terriermon asked "It's just Impmon. He isn't

dangerous, just annoying."

"He's scary and a meanie!" Calumon replied.

"He's not that scary." Terriermon responded.

"I had a nightmare where he ate me... and so did everyone else. Even

you!"

That was a revelation to Lee. That explained Calumon's odd question

earlier.

Breaking into the conversation to assure the terrified little digimon,

Guilmon said. "Don't worry, Takato said dreams aren't real remember?" 

He WOULD start to call him Takato when he had really become a 'mon.'

Lee mentally snorted.

"Okay . . . " Was the digi-child's only word in reply. He seemed more

comforted by Guilmon's presence than his words.

"Besides." Added Terriermon. "Suzie has bunny slippers more creepier

than this guy." That reminded Terriermon of his tormentor, and he

actually found himself wondering if she was okay or not. "Oh, great.

I'm going nuts. Maybe the virus affected Digimon too." he thought.

------------------------------

At that moment, halfway across town...

Suzie lay facedown on her bed. Her pillow was soaked with tears from

crying. "Maybe it won't be so bad." she comforted herself. Then she

had an image of one of her friends playing with her like a lifeless,

stuffed toy. She wondered if Terriermon felt the same way. "I promise

never to play with Terriermon like that anymore. Please come home,

Lee."

She'd only woken up a few minutes before. The time when she was

suppose to leave for school was long past. But, considering what 

her father had seen when he'd checked on her earlier,

he allowed her to stay home from school.

She looked at her body, or better yet, what was left of it. She'd

shrunk considerably and her ears were now long and broad enough to

reach her legs. Her fingers were totally weird and her whole body was

covered in a thin layer of fuzz.

As she started to cry again into her damp pillow, her older sister

opened the door just a crack and asked, "Suzie? Do you want something

to eat?"

"No. Maybe some water... please." She whispered.

------------------------------

Miles away, yet another family was worried about one of their members.

"She's not in the yard. She ran off." Renamon said matter of fact.

"Oh Ruki . . ." The woman mumbled.

"I don't think she lost herself . . . I don't know where she's gone.

But whether she admits it or not, she considers this place home.

She'll be back."

"You want something? It's better than just standing here."

"No thank you. I've already eaten." A lie, but Renamon did not want to

trouble the old woman. She usually never ate anything. The data she

downloaded from slain enemies sustained here well enough. It was one

of the grimmest aspects of digimon existence, and she believed the

nearest real world equivalent was something the humans called

cannibalism.

She had no intention of sharing this fact of digi-life with an

ignorant human. This relationship was on thin ice as it was. She

didn't want to give the old woman the idea that her daughter had been

hanging around with a flesh hungry shadow spirit. It might kill her

from sheer shock. Renamon heard things like that happened to humans.

----------------------------------------

A bored sounding government employee soon wished Maury had been

equally considerate.

"Bio-hazard control center."

"H-hello? This is Mister Maury at West Shinjuku Elementary school . I'd . .

. I'd like to re-report a m-major situation at our school. P-please .

. . this will sound insane, but . . . but I've talked to other

teachers and I can put them on the line to confirm what I'm going to

say if you like. 

Again this is going to sound absolutely absurd but . . but ... but . .

. people are turning into THINGS here! Please. We need help. Send

anything short of men with machine guns, but come quick!"

As a matter of fact, the person at the other end thought they'd

probably need flame throwers if the situation was anywhere near as

serious as it sounded, but his superiors insisted that divulging that

kind of information was bad for public relations. 

Instead, the phone operator asked other teachers to confirm Maury's

story. Several did, if only in slightly less shaky tones. The person

on the other end of the phone line swiftly came to the most likely

scenario: Someone had released a powerful hallucinogenic substance

inside that school. Right or wrong it didn't matter. This was a job

for the space suit crew.

------------------------------

Takatomon would've enjoyed a good hallucination or two at that moment.

He was bored out of his scales and slightly home sick for his old

lair. At first he tried to forget about it by playing with Gulimon,

Terriermon and Calumon, but he'd gotten tired of their games. Even

talking to Leemon, who once again was insisting that Takatomon call

him by that odd sounding human name... Lee... failed to hold his

interest.

After about ten minutes of wracking his brain for something to do, a

dim light bulb flickered into life above his head. He decided it was

time to visit his parents.

"They're probably worried about me, I never return last night and

Leemon didn't go back to his family's lair yesterday either. Maybe

it's time for all of us to visit our lairs and let our families know

were okay." he laboriously reasoned.

"Lee?" he called, trying to get his friends attention. "I think we

should go see our families and let them know were okay."

Lee sighed. At least the big red duffus had remembered not to add the

'mon' on his name. Maybe, just maybe, a little bit of Takato was

still bouncing around in that big empty skull.

"I'd like to see how Suzie's doing too, Takatomon.. err Takato."

"I can't believe I just called him that!" Lee screamed silently to

himself.

"But that's why I sent Jeri out. She still looks human to walk around

unnoticed. We'd attract too much attention if we traveled around town

in broad daylight. Don't worry, I gave her all our home addresses so

that she could check them out too."

Once again. Lee screamed silently within the confines of his own mind,

"Ugh! I should of told Jeri to minimize her contact with everyone so

she didn't spread this thing further! Too late now. Hopefully she'll

realize that on her own."

"Anyway Takato, do you really want a repeat of what happened

yesterday?"

Takatomon thought about the not too pleasant jail cell and shook his

head.

"You're not the only one. I'm bored out of my skull too. But right now

we need to wait on Jeri. Once she tells us what's going on then we can 

decide what to do next."

"I hate planning! I'm sick of being bored. And..." Takato rubbed his

scaly stomach, "I'm getting hungry!"

"Uh-oh. A hungry, bored, and cranky Guilmon. The absolute worse thing

that could happen." Lee thought. He doubted Takato would eat them,

but maybe a few ducks would tide him over. "Were there ducks in the

park's pond this time of year?" Lee shook his head. His thoughts

sometimes became clouded and hazy. How much longer could he lock his

Digimon instincts away in a corner? At that moment, a ball of Digimon

ran him over, leaving him imprinted in the soft dirt.

Guilmon, Calumon, and Terriermon were furiously wrestling with each

other. "How could two tiny Digimon stand up to a gargantuan Guilmon?"

Takatomon wondered as he debated taking on all three at once.

------------------------------

They'd probably protest just as loudly as Rika was right now.

"Hey! Not so hard!" Rika complained as Jeri climbed up onto her back.

Standing on Rika's furry shoulders like a platform, the other girl

held a piece of broken mirror up to the window. With only a small

twist of her wrist, Jeri could spy on the entire room. Her first and

only comment said it all.

"Wow!"

Almost every kid in there had a patch of fur here, or scales there, or

some other digimon feature. She could see Kazu and Kenta sitting at

their desks reading a ton of notes. Jeri looked thoughtful before

commenting.

"The boys are there. Maybe I should go to class too. I mean, they're

much worse than I am."

"You actually want to go to school?" Rika shot, "What kind of digimon

are you?"

"I'm not... whoa!" They tumbled over onto each other. "Get off of me!"

Rika screamed as she tossed Jeri's body aside.

"What are you doing out of class?" A burly man in a blue uniform

boomed.

"I... uh..." Jeri stuttered. Rika had somehow disappeared into thin

air.

"Get to class... now!" the guard ordered as he picked up by the collar

and dropped her on her feet.

"Er... yes sir!" Jeri replied before turning and marching into the

building. This security guard wasn't one to be fooled easily. He

followed only a few steps behind.

"Dude, we need to tell these guys to stop passing us notes!" Kenta

whispered to his friend. "I did!" Kazu replied, "But they won't

stop!"

"Boys? Do you have something you'd like to present to the class?"

Came the voice of doom.

"No." Kenta cowered.

"Bring them up. All of them. And read them to us. Well? We're

waiting."

Kazu and Kenta grabbed a heap of notes each. Suddenly, there was a

knock on the door. "Come in." Usagimon chimed.

"I found this girl outside, ditching."

Jeri stood in front of him, her hands clasped in front of her.

"Jeri, I'm very disappointed in you." Mrs. Usagi started, "We will

discuss your punishment later. Take your seat."

Jeri did as she was told. Kazu and Kenta sat back down and Usagi went

on with the lecture.

"Saved by the knock, huh?" Kazu joked. Kenta wasn't even paying

attention to him.

"Welcome back, Jeri. Where were you?"

She saw Rika's head in the window, wide-eyed. Then, in an instant,

Rika was gone.

"Well, it didn't work out exactly as I'd hoped, but I did check out

both schools and the boys." Rika said to herself. "Now what should I

do? I'm too tired to keep looking for mother, and going home just so

Renamon or Grandma can continue lecturing me to death doesn't sound

like fun... wait! That's it! I'll go back and see if Goggle Head has

regained what little brains he had. That's always good for a

laugh."

--------------------------------------

Laughing was exactly what Guilmon was doing at that moment as he

hugged Terriermon and Calumon and rolled on the ground. Lee was

stunned that a virus type had that much self-control. He had to

remind himself that Guilmon wasn't really that simple minded, just

ignorant.

---------------------------------------

If simple-mindedness were a sport," Jeri though. " Kenta and Kazu

would win gold medals."

Abandoned to her fate by Rikamon's patented Kitsune vanishing act,

Jeri struggled to answer the endless stream of questions they were

hurling at her.

How could Jeri answer? The last time she had seen the two they'd all

gone off to intercept Hadesmon. More recent events were still sending

chills up her spine. Jeri was the last person anyone would call a

prolific or expert liar, but she managed to string up something close

enough to the truth to have the boys leave her alone.

"I . . . was building up the courage to come to class."

"So much for a lion's bravery."

Jeri resisted the urge to tell Kenta to shut it.

-----------------------------------

About to head to the park, Rika suddenly remembered the one place she

hadn't looked yet.

"No! Not that place! Anyplace but there!" she screamed silently at the

sky. There was no way she'd set a paw that place! Maybe it'd serve

her mother right if she got infected. Most champion digimon weren't

all that pretty. Maybe she would become a Gorillamon, or even a

Numamon! That would teach her! All her vanity would mean nothing then.

Where was Nonika when Ruka had needed her? 

Rika didn't owe her a thing!

"One day you're going to wake up all alone and wonder why."

Rika looked around to where the voice had come from. She couldn't

sense Renamon. And there was no one outside except the guard who, of

course, couldn't see her. Time to check out the idiots.

"One day you're going to wake up all alone and wonder why."

Rika tensed and adopted a fighting pose. What the hell was going on?!

If there was an enemy then why didn't they just come out and fight

her? Or were they too afraid of using anything but mental warfare

with her?

"One day you're going to wake up all alone and wonder why."

Rika placed both paws on the sides of her head to cover her ears, and

found nothing there. Kicking herself figuratively, she remembered

their new location atop her head. It didn't matter anyway. The voice

kept repeating itself.

Soon it was joined by mental images of Renamon and her grandmother

speaking the same phrase! Rika was soon on her knees struggling to

drive them out of her mind.

"One day you're going to wake up all alone and wonder why."

At last she recognized the voice . . . it was her own. Rika slammed a

fist into the concrete roof. This time she remembered to stop just as

the blow landed as Renamon had instructed her.

"Am I losing my mind?"

Rika, shaken to the core of her being, fought back tears with a skill

honed by years of practice. But she couldn't hold back the pain in

her voice. "I don't want to be alone . . ."

As Rika came to grips with her inner demons, Jeri too was likewise confronting

a less bitter but equally personal truth when Kenta, risking

Usagimon's wrath, whispered, "By the way Jeri . . you look awful."

Jeri had to admit he was right. Her clothes had bloodstains and burn

marks all over them and were ripped in several places. She didn't

need to take more than a whiff of herself to notice she smelt like

something a feline digimorph had dragged in.

Jeri responded to Kenta's comment with a glare and a lightning fast

claw jab. As her partially digivolved teacher turned to see what had

caused the young reptile-morph to grab his arm and yell in pain, Jeri

busied herself looking innocent and far too busy to have had any

involvement in the incident whatsoever.

Completely ignoring the incredibly long tongue Kenta was angrily

flicking at her, she discovered that her claws could also function as

a comb. As she ran her sharp nails though her hair and planned her

next course of action, Jeri was amazed to discover that her mini

sideways ponytail had somehow survived the day's chaos intact.

She was going to have to wait for break time to sneak out of school

again. There were still other families on her list to check out

before returning home. And there was no telling how her father would

react to seeing her like this.

Still deep in thought, she began to closely examine Kenta and Kazu.

Aside from their size (and Kazu's outfit), they were indistinguishable 

from the digimon she'd seen pictured on the game cards. But would that change too? Would they eventually shrink down to the size of plush toys?

There seemed to be no fixed pattern.

Takato had grown even larger than Guilmon, while Lee and his friend

Terriermon could use a child's backpack as a sleeping bag. Rika's

size, on the other hand, seemed perfectly appropriate to her age in

relation to the older Kitsune, Renamon.

-----------------------------------

"It takes all kinds," thought the operator as he hung up on a

near-hysteric teacher begging for help. Biohazard control was by its

nature a slow business. The government had slapped a perpetually

short-handed and under-funded organization together in case WWIII

involved germ warfare. Thankfully they'd never been called to active

service, for they would never be able to handle a full germ assault.

So for no other reason than to combat boredom, perhaps it

was time to put on the space suits and earn their pay.

-----------------------------------

A news dispatcher had just come the same decision. After being told

about a weird call, she really couldn't believe it'd be anything too

serious. It shouldn't be necessary to send more than single reporter

to investigate what a teacher named Maury was so upset about.

-----------------------------------

Rika had just come to an uncomfortable decision of her own. If she

truly wanted to find her mother, she would have to visit the one

place she's tried to avoid most of her life: the photo-studio where

her mother did most of her work.

With no conscious thought of the danger whatsoever, she jumped over

the stone wall surrounding the school and into a tall tree. From

there she leaped even higher until her clawed feet landed on a single

strand of high-power electrical wire.

Racing along the wire with an ease and velocity no mere human could

even imagine, she sped away in the direction of the city's business

district. As the miles added up behind her, she thought little of

Jeri's plight. It wasn't like anything interesting ever happened in

school anyway. Japan wasn't the US of A. after all. A kid couldn't

sneak an Uzi in his lunch box.

If Jeri could've eavesdropped on Rika's thoughts, she would've added,

" or caught a virus that mutated that same kid into a freakish

digital monster without anyone being upset about it."

For that was exactly what was happening in her class. None of the

infected victims seemed upset in the slightest. Absolutely nothing

seemed bizarre enough to cause the children concern. Wings, beaks,

muzzles, hooves, talons, feathers, scales, fur, and an equally wide

assortment of tails, grew upon or out of their bodies with little

comment.

Even the sole adult present, Miss Usagi, or Usagimon as she liked to

be called now, didn't seem to realize anything unusual was happening

to them or herself. She continued teaching her lesson plan as if

instructing a room full of cartoon-ish creatures was something she

did every day.

About an hour later, Jeri was still lost in a sea of thoughts. Mrs.

Usagi had already scolded her twice for inattention, but none of it

was sinking in. Kazu and Kenta had long agreed to stop fighting it and

just ride out their newfound popularity.

"Mrs. Usagi?" one student with a crest of feathers growing around her

ears asked. "Yes Mira?" The teacher, plainly annoyed, turned to face

her. "There's that lady from the six o'clock news my father's always

talking about outside. I think she's doing a report about our

school."

Mrs. Usagi rushed to the window and yelled. "Oh wow! I love her

shows!", her cat-like eyes lighting up in excitement.

As much of the class rushed to the window, Jeri wondered if now would

be the perfect moment to escape. Her teacher was so distracted

making a break for the door unseen should be easy. She'd barely

completed a single step before a sharp pain at the base of her spine

brought her to a sudden stop.

Miss. Usagi had grabbed hold of Jeri's tail causing it to stretch

painfully. Jeri hadn't realized how sensitive the bestial appendage

was, or how blazing fast Miss Usagi's reflexes were.

"Back." The teacher ordered. Jeri sighed, the burn marks on her chest

eating away at her mind ever time she moved.

"Can I please go to the nurse's office?"

"After class."

"Please."

------------------------------------

As Jeri turned to show Miss Usagimon her injuries, Lee's father was

completing a physical examination of his daughter. It was scary how

little she weighted now. Even less than a few hours before. Lee's

mysterious disappearance was also weighing heavy upon his mind. It'd

been almost three days since Lee 's disappearance, and Jonyu's frantic calls to

the police had failed to yield any results whatsoever.

He held his youngest daughter gently in his arms and wondered if the

doctor's appointment he'd requested would do any good. This -disease-

wasn't like anything he had ever seen, but seeking professional

medical help was the only thing he could think of.

His wife initially wanted to come with him, and he didn't blame her,

but someone needed to be here just in case Lee came home. Slim hope,

but still . . .

Even when he and his friends had been robbed of their years of

hard work in creating the Digimon, he hadn't felt so helpless. Their

unknown sponsors had taken their revolutionary artificial

intelligence program and had made it there own. And not one of the

'Monster Makers', as his friends had dubbed themselves, had seen a

cent in return.

Jonyu had considered trying to demand royalties, but he remembered a

news article about Disney making a guy's life miserable when he

tried to claim they had stolen his idea for Lion King Two (AN guess who!).

They ruined his reputation and did everything but call him a

thief. Without more money than he'd ever see, Jyoh knew it was

pointless to try and get the credit he and his friends deserved.

His eldest daughter gave a quick farewell as she rushed outside to

meet her school bus. As the door slammed behind her, Jonyu wondered if

the fact she and Suzie went to different schools had any significance. 

His wife sat tearfully besides him singing lullabies to a creature that was 

looking less like her daughter with each passing minute.

Clearing his mind for the task at hand, he grabbed his keys and exited

the apartment taking Suzie from his wife's reluctant arms.

As he drove towards the hospital in hopes that SOMETHING 

could be done for his child. 

At that moment, Lee knew exactly how helpless he felt. 

The Digimon were making him absolutely miserable. Keeping his group in

line was proving almost impossible. He constantly had to watch Takato

and Calumon. The former human kept trying to wonder off, while the later

had done everything but set off fireworks to give their hiding place

away.

At least 'Impmon' was still unconscious. Lee would have to question

Calumon about him later. And to top things off, Terrerimon's

abrasive attitude was starting to reach the breaking point

with Lee. Where the heck was Jeri?! He sure hoped something hadn't

happened to her. He didn't want to spend the rest of eternity keeping

an eye on this weird bunch.

------------------------------

Liz could've sympathized with Lee's plight. Since starting work at channel

Seven West Shinjuku, she'd been buried in nutcases, weirdoes, and the

like to report about. Stories guaranteed to waste her time and run

her around in circles before coming to a dead end. Her career as a

television news reporter was never going to get anywhere at its

current rate.

"Oh, great. Just another bunch of juvenile delinquents celebrating a

late Halloween." She thought seeing the faces looking at her through

one of the windows. She'd been instructed to interview a teacher

named Mr. Maury, so she might as well find the guy and get to the

bottom of this. And the sooner the better. Her memories of school

were none too pleasant.

As she went inside she found the halls deserted. Nothing really out of

the expected, it was class time after all. How was she even to find

this Maury guy anyway? The main office was the most oblivious place

to ask that question. It wouldn't hurt to find out if he had a

history of making prank calls, although the person who'd assigned her

to this call said he'd sounded nearly incoherent with fear.

Liz eventually found the principal's office and walked in. A stout

lady talking into a phone and typing on a computer eventually

noticed. "May I help you?"

"Yeah. Is there someone named Maury working here?" Liz asked, not

meaning to sound so hurried.

"Oh dear." the secretary replied, "What has Maury done this time?"

"Oh, nothing. He called us."

At that moment, Maury charged into the room, drenched in sweat.

"Oh thank God you're here! Over here! This way!" He shouted as he

grabbed Liz by the arm and yanked her into the hallway. Shouting even

louder he yelled, "Look!", as he flung a classroom door open and

shoved her inside.

"All I see is an empty classroom."

Maury gulped and hung his head in embarrassment. The reporter was

right. He'd pushed her into the wrong room.

"Uh, sorry!" He said totally embarrassed. "Wrong room!"

Before Liz could protest, he tightened his grip and pulled her

outside. Choosing a door a few feet away, room 101, the young

reporter took note of in passing, he reached out and grabbed the

doorknob. Before he could push her into another room Liz pulled

free.

"That's it! I'm not moving another inch unless you tell me what's

going on. The News is to be taken seriously." She protested loudly.

"You . . . " Maury tried to get some self-control. " . . . you won't

believe me if I told you."

"Try me." She said flatly.

"A teacher... a teacher here at school, a Mrs. Usagi, and all the

students in her class today, arrived all partially or fully changed

into weird creatures! I couldn't tell anyone over the phone. No one

would ever believe me!"

"You were right." Liz turned to leave the way she came; this guy

needed a shrink and a straight jacket.

"Wait!" Maury pleaded. "Please! At least take a look though the glass,

and tell me what you see!"

Liz looked at him appraisingly to determine his danger coefficient.

Short, weak build and balding. Hardly the image of a potential mass

murderer, but he could still be hiding a hockey mask somewhere. If he

thinks he's going to catch me off guard again, he's going to be

disappointed.

Instead of looking through the glass panels that make up much of the

door, she kept her eyes fixed on the excited little man and opened

the door instead. All heads inside the room turned to watch her as

she entered the class room.

As a journalist, Liz was taught to be observant, and to take

absolutely nothing for granted. This . . . this was the same room

with the dressed up kids she had seen from the outside! And look

there... no human neck can spin that much without breaking! And

there... that boy had a huge beak growing out of his face, and a head

covered completely in feathers! There was no room for his 'real' head.

And over there... the girl with the brown hair and a green dress staring 

back at her. The lion's tail sticking out of her dress 

had just moved like it was alive!

To her credit, it only took Liz ten seconds to realize no one in the

room was wearing a costume. Most people would simply reject what

their senses were saying, or question their sanity. She did neither.

"Can I help you?" Said a white humanoid cat looking at her with brown

almost red eyes as if nothing was wrong except an interruption to her

class.

Liz struggled to keep from stuttering. "Are you uh . . . Mrs. Usagi?"

Usagimon was a little confused, this woman didn't look blind. She had

to know a Digimon when she saw one. Taking the 'mon' off a digimon's

name was considered disrespectful if the situation didn't call for

extreme haste, or the individuals weren't intimately involved. As the

building didn't seem to be on fire, and she couldn't recall ever

meeting this person before, Usagimon didn't think either situation

applied.

Glaring slightly at the perceived rudeness, Usagimon answered the

question "Yes, I'm Usagimon. Who are you and why have you disrupted

my class?!"

Caught off guard by the swiftness and tone of Usagimon's questioning

response, Liz was unable to reply and simply stared at the white

humanoid cat wearing a nice dress standing before her.

"I... I..." Liz stuttered as she fought to find the words to describe

how she felt. Torn between accepting the impossible, or running for

her life from a potentially dangerous situation, she was soon rescued

be years journalistic training and on-the-job-experience.

"This is my big chance!", she screamed silently within the confines of

her own mind. "I might even get my own series after reporting this!

But wait... what if that's a mask?! What if these kids ARE dressed

up?!"

A reporter's basic instinct to check out everything clicked in force

as Liz to approach the teacher. Almost in a trance, she reached out

and tugged at cat-woman's whiskers. Mrs. Usagi instantly yelped in

pain and swiped at the reporter's arm with her claws. Liz pulled back

a deeply scratched and bleeding arm. The searing pain was the last thing

on her mind however. She was already thinking how she'd spend the fat bonus

check her boss she was going to give her.

_______________________________

"This is Liz Auborne reporting here at the West Shinjuku Elementary

School, where evolution seems to have taken a turn for the worst.

Kids and even one teacher seem to be slowly evolving into birds,

lizards, and other furry creatures. Just look."

Liz's cameraman panned his lens around the classroom and its

inhabitants. The 'kids' were enjoying every second for their fifteen

minutes of fame, as they waved various kinds of paw-like hands and

made comical gestures behind their classmate's backs. Their teacher

wasn't amused in the slightest and kept tapping her claws loudly

against her desktop.

"Is this really necessary?" she shouted having reached the end of her

patience.

Liz ignored her and kept talking into her microphone. Nothing short of

a major earthquake would stop her now.

"This is Mrs. Usagi, who seems to be some kind of cat creature. Ma'am,

can you tell me what its like?"

The teacher in question growled, then commented, "I've always been

this way. What are you talking about?"

Kazu, Kenta, and Jeri were among the few kids who weren't jumping

around in the background, trying to be on TV. "She thinks she's been

a Gatomon all her life." Kenta said. "Wow, it's gotten bad."

Jeri wasn't her normal, cheery self. She was deep in thought worrying

how much of Japan was going to end up infected. "You know, the camera lady

doesn't need a comment." she cryptically said, almost to herself.

"Why?" both boys asked.

"Because us kids are changing too. The virus is active in us.

We'll spread it to that news-lady and she'll transform too."

Kazu gulped. Jeri was right! There was no way to

predict how the virus would have spread by the time 

this hit the airwaves!

----------------------------------------

News, the lack of it actually, was making Renemon pace endlessly as

she worried about Rika's whereabouts. It took several repetitions

before a near-whispered plea from Rika's Grandmother interrupted her

brooding thoughts.

"Renemon-san, please sit down. All we can do now is wait for Ruki to

come home and hope for the best.

The kitsune stopped instantly. For the first time of her 'adult' life,

she'd completely blocked out all awareness of her surroundings and

the living beings sharing it. An extremely dangerous mistake for any

digimon to make if it didn't want to be defeated, and subsequently,

have its data uploaded and absorbed by another digimon.

"How about we make some use of our time together? Tell me about

yourself." Rika's Grandmother asked.

"You want to know about me?" Renamon replied. She didn't know what

else to say. Except for a couple Tamers, and children Tamers at that,

she'd never spoken to a human besides Rika.

"Yes. How about we get to know each other? We can discuss Ruki's

relationship with you over some tea."

Renemon was going to refuse again, but it had been quite a while since she

had eaten anything digital or otherwise. If she didn't eat regularly enough to keep

raising her energy levels, it would take forever for Champion to

become her default level let alone Ultimate.

"That . . . would be most welcome." The Kitsune said at last. "I

think I am picking up Rika's bad habit of thinking my body can just

keep going as long as I tell it hard enough to."

"There are some people who are never willing to admit to their

limitations. I blame myself for never having taught my grand daughter

the danger of that attitude."

"I refused to realize my own limits when I was younger, and it cost me a

daughter and my mate. We thought we could fight anything, and we

often did. Two of us ended up dead."

"What . . . was your daughter's name?"

Silence. "Reremon."

"I'm sorry. I'm sure Rika's change must have been a blessing to you."

"You'd think that. But no. I was living a lie yesterday. A lie that

would only disgrace my daughter's memory. No matter how much she

acted like Reremon, Rika could never replace her. Some dreams aren't

meant to come true no matter how much we pray for them, I guess."

"It was Noniko's dream come true when she became a model star at

sixteen. She refused to believe men looking at her with that fire in

their eyes only because they were interested in her body, not her. I

told her as much when she introduced me to her husband. I knew he

wasn't interested in her, not for her. And then Rika came. A short

time later, he left. But don't judge the fool too hard, Noniko had her 

own part to play in that seperation."

"I understand. We too fight for every bit of pleasure we can get in

the Digital World. The Real World doesn't seem that much different."

"I've a gift for reading people, Renamon. Both you and my daughter

try too hard to cut yourselves off from your emotions."

"How can you tell?"

"Oh . . . little things, your tone of voice, the way the react to

things. Like I said, I knew there was something protecting my

daughter over the last few months."

"Not many humans are that perceptive."

"I make it a point to be perceptive."

-------------------------------

Dressed like they were about to visit an alien world themselves, two

men drove a van filled with expensive scientific equipment into a

school parking lot.

"Is this the place, Hiroshi?" Said Jiro looking out that the

large van didn't smash into something.

"Yep, West Shinjuku Elementary School. Couple of teachers called and

said that a teacher and her student were turning into refuges from the

Island of Dr. Moreau."

"Sounds like a hallucinogenic to me. You get water samples and I'll

take air... Hey! A News van is here!"

"Oh great. Now we're gonna have to make sure they get lost first. We

don't want people panicking over a simple case of mass hysteria. Go

ahead on close your visor. We don't want to end up talking to pink

elephants ourselves."

"Don't need to tell me twice."

Hiroshi checked his partner's yellow HAZMAT suit for rips or cuts.

"Shouldn't be much of a problem." Jiro commented as he did likewise

for his friend before both men entered the building.

"So where do we start, Hiroshi?"

"See that cable?" Jiro asked, "That's the kind video cameras use.

Follow it and we're bound to find a camera crew, and the problem, on

the other end."

Meanwhile, on the end of the cable just mentioned...

"We'll update you as news breaks." Liz cheerfully finished.

She made a slicing motion on her neck, cueing her cameraman to stop

rolling tape. "Perfect! This story's gonna get me to the top!" She

predicted while daydreaming about a glorious future.

Neko, her cameraman, handed her the tape. Meanwhile, Mrs. Usagi, on

the brink of going after them with her claws again, struggled to keep a

calm expression.

"Ok. That's enough! You're done! Get out of my classroom OR ELSE!" Her

claws were already unsheathed and ready for action.

"Sorry to cause such an upset, Mrs....... er... Ma'am. We'll be on our

way." Liz turned and shuffled out the door, running smack dab into

Hiroshi and Jiro. "You... you crushed my tape!" Liz cried.

"Wha...!? You ran into US!" Jiro came back.

"ALL OF YOU GET OUT OF MY CLASSROOM!" Mrs. Usagi yelled angrily as she

slammed the panel door shut. None of her students dared say a word.

Getting diced into cat food was never a... good thing.

Mrs. Usagi stomped back to her desk and threw herself in the chair.

"Good. Now that that's over... where was I?"

One young boy who had a pair of curling ram-like horns on his head

replied meekly, "We were on Chapter 5..."

"DON'T INTERRUPT ME!!" Mrs. Usagi boomed. All of her students jumped

to attention, their backs pressed firmly against the back of the hard

wooden chairs. Jeri felt her tail go stiff as a steel cable. She'd

never seen Mrs. Usagi look so fierce.

---------------------------------

Terriermon was looking anything but fierce.

At that very moment he hanging onto a tree branch by his ears, and

Calumon was using him as a swing. Guilmon and Takato were deep into

their tenth wrestling match of the day. It was obvious who was

winning. Lee on the other hand, was resisting the urge to look for a

sharp object.

"Where the hell is Jeri? No way it could take her this long!" Waiting

for the lioness to report back was eating away at him like poison.

The longer it took, the more his patience eroded.

"One more hour. One. After that, we go on without her." he said in a

whisper. Frankly, it wouldn't have mattered if he'd climbed to the

top of a tree and shouted his little lungs out. Everyone was so busy

having fun, none of his friends would've heard a word.

_________________________________________________

Flames, comments, good or bad, corrections, suggestions, reactions, praise, rants, ideas on what should happen next (very welcome), and the occasional constructive criticism all-welcome. 

Spelling corrections also welcome as long as you tell what you think of the story itself too. 

Please, don't just write MORE!' those reviews kinda leave me empty.

Read ya!


	8. Reconnaissance Two

I always hated forewords, but looks like there's no escaping them. On the issue of length. These things at least thirty six pages long. How much longer do you want these chapters? For those who might have been confused, TSF is NOT my job but the message board the original story was at. Good news, it's back up, bad news, they won't let me on! (Revised, they have let me on with a warning that they do not like my guts.) Also, Fionn has been able to find part nine! So this isn't over yet! (And then found part ten!) If anyone knows the fate of the good Lunamew please let me know. He/She was a great reviewer of mine and I never had the mind to thank them. For those of you who seem to forget, I started this story, but I am only one of a number of writers who have kept this thing alive. And while I did all the other chapters, Charles was totally responsible for fleshing out the last one. He also gave this one the run through. And no . . Aaron Max and me really didn't have much of a plan on how the virus works, or at least he never told me about it. But I got something now. As for the format, it was either that, or have really weird symbols and no 'returns' through out the story which would have seriously distracted from the story even more. I'd like to say I spent this entire time working on this, but I had stories that needed reviewing and a LOT of MB stories to add to. Looking back on previous parts, I realize how bad the grammar was at the beginning. Also how little I did to put one-liners together scattered through the chaptered.  
  
Note: I think it was a little stupid that change human's cloths should appear in the image on the D-Ark too. But I didn't write that part.  
  
Anyone have any idea what Gummymon looks like? It's Terriermon's in- training form and makes more sense for Suzie.  
  
Now that my group lost our main source of digi info, anyone else know where we can find card images and translations? Mistakes I also made, Spelling Ruki as Riku. Spelling Calumon as Calmon. And I've found out that Takato's eyes are maroon and NOT blue! Takato figured out a name for Growlmon before he got to the jail cell so it wouldn't be 'nameless' Spelling "kitsune" with as "kitsume". And Henrey's real name is Jenrya Lee, ugh, Lee is his family name, brother did I screw up.  
  
Some mistakes Max pointed were: Hadesmon's eyes first being black then red. Usagi first knowing whom Liz was then asking a question to the contrary.  
  
Will someone remind me not to keep saying 'kodak moment' and 'a lot lately' (?) And any other repetitive phrases I've overused.  
  
Thanks to Knights of the Dinner Table for inspiration for some of the humor here. Spider-Man. A Tenchi Muyo fanfiction writer I can't remember the name of right now.  
  
Chamelemon's attacks: Tongue Whip & Heat Eye Owlmon's attacks: Midnight Clutch & Infra Red Ray  
  
Fionn got these names from A Little Dose of Devas (and Tamers too) by Comrade Terror on Fanfiction.net. Lee's older brother is Rinchei (change to Richie). Lee's older sister is Jaarin (change to Karin).  
  
EDIT: Remember, detail is the life blood of fiction. (character interaction is the soul and feeling for the characters is the spirit) EDIT: Remember an author who says 'it's just a story' doesn't feel for his character and that is a sad thing.  
  
Correction on Spelling: "Regardless of warnings the future doesn't scare me at all!" -"Hikari", Simple and Clean, opening of Kingdom Hearts. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
  
Mrs. Wong sniffled slightly as she wiped a tear from her eyes; she was so worried about her baby. Keeping house simply wasn't taking her mind off things like she'd hoped.  
  
"Poor Suzie," She thought. "What's happening to her?"  
  
Near tears, she lit sticks of incense while sending prayers to Buddha and the saintly protectors of children, Jizo, Kishi, and Kammon the merciful, to watch over her child.  
  
The task done, Mr. Wong returned to her vacuuming and re-cleaned a spot on the floor she'd cleaned four times before. Seeking something, anything, which would distract her mind if only for a few minutes, she approached the living room window hoping to find even the smallest smudge she might've missed.  
  
She didn't.  
  
What she did find left her gasping for breath: her ears had changed. Swaying gently with each movement she made, sharp tipped animal-like ears protruded upwards several inches from either side of her head.  
  
* * * * *  
  
"Hiroshi? Are you okay, Hiroshi?" Jiro asked his silent partner wishing he had a deity to pray too to.  
  
Jiro was ready to panic over what he'd just seen. And what had he just seen? His first impulse had been to scream and flee as fast as his heavy protective suit would allow. Maybe his partner of many years was having the same thoughts. It would be best to distract him. As the slowest running of the two, Jiro had no desire to be left behind.  
  
"Check the pressure on both our suits." Jiro Ordered.  
  
Hiroshi did so without comment. Both suits were functioning perfectly. Both men were still sealed off from the outside world.  
  
"Okay . . ." Jiro continued. Pointing a shaking hand at the reporter, he asked. "Tell me, reporter-san. What did that woman we just saw look like to you?"  
  
Liz considered what to say and settled on the truth, she was a reporter after all. "She looked like a humanoid white cat."  
  
Jiro looked at the cameraman and then at his partner who gave similar responses.  
  
"Okay . . ." He repeated. "This school just became a roach motel. No one comes in or out."  
  
"Don't you mean zoo?" The long blond haired cameraman remarked.  
  
"Not funny Neko." Liz retorted to her overseas camera guy. "Well, I guess we'll be going now."  
  
"No you won't!" Said Jiro seriously. "I said no one leaves and I meant it."  
  
"But . . "  
  
"No buts, if this thing is infectious anyone here could spread it through the whole population."  
  
Liz growled. "And I didn't even get my story! All because you two idiots smashed my tape!" She pointed at Jiro's face behind the protective plastic.  
  
Before more insults could be traded, the cameraman spoke up.  
  
"Don't worry, Dudet. The van's recorders are connected to my camera. We can upload the backup copy from here over a cellular line."  
  
"You're not telling the public about this." Jiro yelled.  
  
"The people have the right to know man!" The cameraman yelled back. Not being covered head to toe in plastic gave him the advantage in the volume department.  
  
"Spare me." Liz begged of any deity that might've been eavesdropping on the worst day of her life.  
  
After a moment to plan her next move, Liz winked at the cameraman and asked, "Neko? Could you please show these men your Hulk Hogan impersonation while I . . . uh, make a quick trip to the bathroom?"  
  
"Gotcha!" Neko replied with a wink of his own while putting the camera down . . . Liz took off running, while Neko, with the strength one needed to carry a heavy piece of equipment day in and day out, provided a proper obstacle to the unarmed biohazard team.  
  
No one even noticed the teacher Maury who had called them all there in the first place as he shuffled at last into his own classroom. Mentally cheering the reporter on, he giggled to himself that for once in his life things hadn't totally blown up in his face when he tried to do the right thing. He could teach his class in a very much softened up mood.  
  
Jeri's tail refused to soften up as she looked at the white cat digimon. Even compared to that time Mrs. Usagi had caught Kenta and Kazu playing the digimon card game in class this was a whole new level of ferocity for Jeri's homeroom teacher. The woman/digimon looked ready to cut them all to shreds!  
  
Was fighting a natural instinct with Digimon? Guilmon had seemed more interested in food than fighting. But . . . that . . . THING last night had been a nightmare she would live with for the rest of her life. Not to mention the scars that flaming limb of his had left on her body. And still, despite having shown the wounds to Usagimon, the partially digitized feline- like teacher still refused to allow Jeri to leave the classroom.  
  
"Dear God!" The lioness exclaimed out loud when the true extent of her own though hit her. "The playground blacktop might become an arena of death come lunchtime!" Everyone turned their head at her and she quickly quieted down.  
  
Jeri wrapped her tail around her waist in an unconscious protective gesture. Her tail . . . she had had it for barely a day and she was already thinking of it as her tail. She guessed living things rarely questioned their own biology.  
  
Mrs. Usagi had already started reading off from chapter five. Jeri sighed and pulled out some spare paper from her desk. She'd just have to wait until lunch to get on her job of checking on the other kids' families. She froze as her clawed fingers snagged on something fuzzy. Her beloved sock puppet, still safe and sound where she'd left it the day before.  
  
The same day when, according to Kenta and Kazu, and vague hints from her own memory, she'd acted like a 'take no trash from anyone' tomboy instead of her usual timid self.  
  
Not that she regretted giving fat Agouti what she deserved yesterday, but still, that ruthlessness, that hunger for violence, was it the lioness (they did do the hunting in nature after all), the Rika, the Digimon or a combination of all three in her forcing their ways to the surface?  
  
And why had the Digivice -she now knew to have been originally Rika's- changing color brought her personality back to its meek self? Why had it also brought Rika's human memories rushing to the surface?  
  
Jeri looked the D-Vice, she would have to ask Lee about it when she got back.  
  
Falling into the routine she knew so well, and far too shaken to do anything else, Jeri tuned out her own thoughts as she mindlessly copied down whatever came out of her teacher's mouth.  
  
* * * * *  
  
Lee was pulled away from his own thoughts as he heard a faint moan and moved towards the sound to find that their 'guest', Impmon, was coming around. The little devil shook his purple head holding his hands to his skull as he slowly came back to the waking world.  
  
"That was, weird!" The diminutive digimon groaned as he tried to analyze the rapidly fading dream images. Something about Mai, no! Wrong! Not right! That part of his life never happened! He didn't need a Tamer! Let alone two! Impmon would never let himself become just another toy for some snot- nosed human children to fight over. He didn't need them! He didn't need anybody! So why did he feel so lonely? Seeking to escape this last thought, Impmon sat up blinking as he became aware of the brown furred dog/rabbit looking at him.  
  
Impmon spoke. "Who's the heck are you'se?"  
  
The male digimon spoke. "My name is Lee, excuse me but I don't think we've met. Calumon knows you but I think that's it, and he didn't exactly paint a pretty picture of you."  
  
Impmon spat back. "Wha' does that little runt know? Anyway . . . ain't you'se ah little old for takin' da 'mon' off yer name?"  
  
Lee stared at him a moment before speaking. "I'm not really a digimon. I'm a human being. I got this way a day or two ago because of a weird phenomena. And whatever it is, it's spreading."  
  
Impmon leaned back on his rear. With a huge sneer on his lips he replied. "Okay . . . and when did da little gray men from inside da hollow Earth tell you'se all of dis?"  
  
Lee sighed. "I'm not crazy." Then he remembered. The D-Arc had shown the human self of that Yamaki guy, maybe it would do the same for him! Lee thought for a moment, now where did he put his digivice? Now that he thought about it, he couldn't remember. Takato had his clipped to a loose scale on his hip -when did he do that?-, but Lee had forgotten being covered in nothing but brownish fur. That's it! His clothes! Half walking and half gliding down to where they'd all slept last night, Lee raced towards where he'd last seen his clothing. Despite the fact that most digimon couldn't fit in human clothing, he'd decided to keep his in case he ever turned human again. "Imagine the looks on everyone's faces if we change back, and I'm the only one smart enough to have brought my clothing with me." Lee thought smugly to himself as he rummaged through his rumpled pants. "Rats! What good are a couple coins and a piece of linty chewing gum?" Glumly chewing on the candy -then remembering himself and taking it out-, Lee continued his search within his vest pockets and felt something big and electronic against the fleece. "Bingo!" He exclaimed as he triumphantly lifted the huge, at least to him, device over his long-eared head in a dramatic gesture. "Phooey! How embarrassing! I'm beginning to act like Takato now. Quick! Somebody, anybody, please shoot me!" Lee grumbled to himself as he prayed no one had seen his embarrassing lack of control. As he lowered the device to eye level, which in his former life as a human would've been well below his kneecap, he noticed that it'd gone into map mode. A flickering yellow arrow was point towards the west.  
  
"That's gotta be Jeri," he thought. "Maybe I should keep this with me." A deep sigh escaped his rabbit-like lips as he once again contemplated his clothes less state. "Why couldn't I have mutated into something with a pouch?" He asked the cloudless sky. -Wait a minute, that would make me a girl, never mind!- Receive no answer; he finally decided that clipping the device to one of his furry ground-dragging brown ears was probably the best solution.  
  
Proof in paw, Lee walked back towards the watching imp who'd been wondering what the insane animal-digimon was up to. "Impressive. Youse scare ah lotta opponents with dat move?" Impmon inquired as he imitated Lee by lifting his three-fingered hand over his horned head and shouted, "Bingo!" "Oh, shut up!" Lee snapped back, swallowing a sudden urge to challenge the devil-digimon to a fight-to-the-death duel right then and there, he lifted the digivice and nearly touched Impmon's nose with it. "Now . . ." Said Lee patiently. "You know what this is?" "Yea. It's ah D-Arc." Impmon shot back. "It's the thing them slave tamers use ta check out digimon." Condescending, sassy, annoying, and bitter. . he's an Impmon all right. Lee spoke to the virus as if he were a teacher describing ABC's to a five year old. "Good. That's one thing I don't need to explain then . . . Now, like I was saying, I may look like a digimon, but I'm really human." Impmon retorted. "Sayin' it over an' over ain't gonna make it com' true, nut bunny." "Okay smart guy." Lee smirked. "Then explain this." Lee tapped a few buttons on the D-Power and it went into scan mode. And as Lee had hoped, as with the other changed humans, when the D-Power scanned him a duel image appeared. Half of the screen showed a perfectly normal chocolate brown Lopmon, while the other half showed his former human self. And now that he was fully changed, his primary name appeared as well.  
  
Impmon looked at the screen with his jaw nearly bouncing on the ground. With eyes that were nearly double their usual size, he stuttered. "Wha . . . wha . . . how'd you'se do that? It's. . . it's a trick, it's gotta be . . . there, there ain't now way that foxy lady couldda been tellin' da truth. That cute little, that little copy of hers was a, human tamer? Her human tamer? No! That's not...." Impmon fainted yet again, after doing so however how many times in the last few days.  
  
Lee sighed. At least this guy wasn't going to be much trouble if all he did was kept fainting. Looking back over at the group Lee realized Terriermon wasn't with them anymore. The vaccine type must have sneaked off while Lee had been D-Arc digging. But just at that moment came the familiar voice Lee both loved and hated.  
  
"Okay digimon and err, digimon, we eat!" Lee saw his digimon was carrying a pair of picnic baskets with his ears.  
  
Calumon and both red dinos raced over to the food. Lee stayed back. "Uh . . . mind if I ask where you got those?" Lee feared he already knew the answer.  
  
"I just borrowed it from some people."  
  
Calumon perked up, he was already deep inside the breadbasket. "You mean like all those people do with me? Whenever I get near some humans they almost always want to share their food with me."  
  
Terriermon sweat dropped. "Well, sorta, but . . . I did it when they weren't looking."  
  
The dino twins kept eating. Calumon was confused. Lee was not amused.  
  
"Terriermon! I can't believe you! Didn't you learn anything yesterday?! Stealing is wrong, and one way or another you always get paid back."  
  
"Momentai, Lee! The police aren't going to believe that a beige and green bunny dog came out of a tree and stole someone's lunch. Besides, scold Suzie the next time you see her. I wouldn't have thought of this if it wasn't for her. I got the idea from a Yogi Bear cartoon she was watching. I'm smarting than the average digimon!"  
  
"This is real life, not a cartoon Terriermon."  
  
"Hey! I'm sure someone somewhere is enjoying this."  
  
"That someone isn't me . . ."  
  
"So you don't want any?"  
  
"I didn't say that."  
  
"Well then." Terriermon replied. "You better get some before the bottomless pits finish it off!"  
  
Indeed, Takato and Guilmon were feasting. If their brains had any room for anything but lunch there were no obvious signs of it. Lee had no intention to test if they could recognize friend from food at the moment. One thing he did know was that they weren't going anywhere for a while.  
  
* * * * *  
  
Jeri had no intention of doing the same as the school bell rang. Jeri was up before anyone else, heading straight for the door. "You are not dismissed by the bell, young lady," Mrs. Usagi reminded her, "You are dismissed by the teacher." Jeri cringed, and slid back into her desk.  
  
"Nice try Jeri." Kazu mocked. Faster than he could react, Jeri clawed his arm. Not hard enough to draw blood, but she certainly got her point across. Kazu opened his mouth to say something but decided their teacher wasn't in the best mood to hear anything from the three of them at the moment. Jeri plucked the D-Arc from her bag and clipped it to her skirt: she needed to travel light. Maybe she'd be able to sneak off campus during the lunch break. "Okay, go ahead." The teacher motioned snapping her tail for emphasis.  
  
Most of the kids had no comparison to what awaited them as they exited their classes. Those that did had obviously seen the poorly dubbed American animation movie, Monsters Inc. Especially the part where the monsters in yellow hazard suits shaved and scrubbed an unfortunate monster when he came into contact with a sock infected with 'human' germs.  
  
Only, in this particular case, the situation was totally reversed. The humans were inside the spacesuits, and the monsters (infected and non- infected children alike) were the creatures being treated like plague victims. -But kids, being kids, where harder to round up than most super balls.- The fact that a few of them had full use of digimon fighting attacks only made matters more dangerous. All in all the biohazard group had more important things to worry about that a snoopy reporter and her news van.  
  
It still wasn't easy sneaking away though; the school was well into the process of being quarantined. But being a lioness, Jeri stealthily prowled along the walls, careful not to get caught. Wait. A noise! Someone was coming.  
  
"Found you at last." Jeri recognized that voice. "I'm busy. Leave me alone, Agouti."  
  
"You listen here! No one beats on me! And that goes double for you!" The plump little girl threatened. She seemed a little thicker than before.  
  
"You remember what I did to you last time?" Jeri tried for her 'Rika' voice, but everything had taken its toll, and all she could manage was something akin to a mouse squeak. Jeri knew her threat sounded empty, one which wouldn't scare even Calumon. Not that it mattered. Even if Jeri had managed her 'tough girl' persona, Agouti had come prepared.  
  
"Get 'er!" Agouti shouted. Five other kids sprang from the trees and from behind various spots, all striking out at a single target: Jeri!  
  
"Help!" Jeri shouted uselessly. Over the noise of crowd control bullhorns, and near-rioting children, none heard her plea for assistance. Nor did anyone notice as an older boy wearing glasses tackled her from behind as the barrage of punches and kicks began.  
  
Despite cat-like reflexes, Jeri was unable to block more that a small fraction of the blows aimed her way, but oddly, even though it had been dropped to the ground and stepped on repeatedly, her digivice seemed to be undamaged.  
  
As the beating continued without respite, Jeri too fell under the weight of her attackers and curled into a defensive ball. The mob was forced to squat down on the grass as they continued to rain blows upon her. In Jeri's mind, the situation couldn't have been grimmer as her eyes closed. What was that she had thought? About the blacktop becoming a killing ground? It had. Hers.  
  
Too fast! Too many! Agouti's going to kill me! Huh? What's that sound?  
  
The beating came to a sudden halt, as Jeri's attackers searched for a loud beeping that seemed to be coming from somewhere close by.  
  
"What? Does she have a cell phone or something?" One of Agouti's 'friends' Toki spotted Jeri's D-Arc and the blinking zeroes and ones on its tiny screen.  
  
"Who cares?" Agouti declared as she tried to refocus their attention on the task at hand. Namely, beating the stuffing out of Jeri.  
  
"Please... STOP!!" Jeri screamed once again in fear for her life. The beeping grew even louder.  
  
Suddenly, the little gadget lying motionless on the grass began vibrating. The flurry of zeroes and ones scrolling down the LCD window speed faster and faster Matrix style until the numbers were impossible to distinguish.  
  
"Smash it!" Agouti barked. But before any of her goons could comply, the Digivice let out a single blinding flash of black light. Agouti felt a sharp pain in her lower back as her clothes first became impossible tighter then started to rip. A strong stinging sensation followed shortly thereafter as 'something' forced itself out of her forehead.  
  
It was way too much for her to handle. Agouti became suddenly dizzy and fell to the ground in a dead faint. The last thing she saw was her friends falling all around her. Or, at least she thought they were her friends. Where had all those scales and feathers come from?  
  
After several seconds without suffering a single blow, Jeri cautiously opened her eyes. Seeing no immediate danger, she uncurled from her fetal position and took in the surroundings. All six of the kids had been turned completely into Digimon! One boy had become an Agumon. Yet another was the spiting image of a Gazimon. And each and every one of them was out cold. Out of the blue one of them began to move.  
  
"Agouti?" Jeri looked down at her rival, now a Rookie level pig Digimon, lying on her side. If not for the tattered sheds of a wrapped dress partly around it, there was nothing left to identify the animal-digimon as ever having been human. Even the eye-searing odor coming off her enemy's bloated body screamed pig-digimon to Jeri's sense of smell.  
  
The rookie type looked at her blankly as it's eyes came into focus. "Huh? What's a Agouti? Who are you? You're not a Digimon."  
  
"You don't remember me?" Jeri asked as she lowered her head to Agouti's level. "No. Should I? Sorry, I don't seem to remember . . . anything?" Agouti meekly replied. If she was faking, she was doing a good job of it.  
  
"Do you remember being human?"  
  
"What's a humon?"  
  
The other transformed kids were slowly waking up, the hard drives of their minds still booting up.  
  
Jeri realized the worst. Even if her change seemed to be on vacation, she was a still an instrument of this . . . this infection! Shaken to the core of her being, Jeri picked up the small yellow digivice and looked at its blank screen. So small. So innocent looking. So hideously powerful! As her tail shook madly behind her in fear, she wished that she'd never found the stupid thing!  
  
Yesterday it had been an object of wonder and mystery. Now it was the ugliest thing she'd ever laid eyes on.  
  
Ignoring the new digimon for the moment, Jeri continued to stare at the digivice. Jeri soon found herself snarling and screaming at the inanimate machine.  
  
"Aren't you going to do me next?!" It didn't react. It seemed bent on keeping her as she was for now. "But for how long? How long before you take away my body and mind too?" A terrified Jeri asked the silent device as if it could somehow reply.  
  
Jeri sighed as she forced her anger and fear away. There was too much to do. There were still too many people counting on her. Besides, being afraid wasn't going to get her anywhere.  
  
Still ignoring the new digimon milling around her in confusion, she remained transfix upon the little blank screen. Weird. This thing had restored Rika's memories of her human self, and had now done exactly the reverse. Maybe changing owners had made it buggy.  
  
Not that she could take it to an electronics store or anything as Lee had pointed out.  
  
The semi-morph pointed the D-Arc at the new digimon in front of her almost as if in a dream. She noticed of course that Agouti wasn't a normal pig; her coloring was a patched blue and brown. Her eyes had remained oddly unchanged.  
  
"Agoutimon. Virus type. Rookie level. Animal class. Attacks, Horn Jab." Jeri only now noticed the instrument of said attack. "And Snort Stun. A brutish digimon that keeps trying to prove it's stronger than it really is." Jeri said to herself.  
  
"That's strange." Jeri said out loud. No picture of Agouti came up like it had with Rika. Jeri didn't want to think about what they might mean. Jeri looked to see what the other five kids of the six that had attacked her had become.  
  
Jeri looked from digimon to rookie digimon, each one in his or her own tent of clothes, all looking confused and still coming to. Jeri saw a white and a black Agumon along with a yellow one, the Gazimon she noticed before, and a oddly colored bird digimon she read up on her D-Ark as being a 'Biyomon' though the one before her was different colors than the one in the picture. No human picture came up with any of them.  
  
Jeri shook her head. There was nothing she could do now. But did she dare risk anymore innocent victims by carrying this dreaded curse any further? Not that it seemed to matter; she was finding new people to infect just by standing where she was.  
  
Things could only get worse if she waited. Eventually she would be identified as a plague carrier and captured. That wouldn't do. She had promised Lee to check on their families. And there was not telling what might happen to poor sweet Takato if she didn't return. She had to get back to him. He WAS her digimon, weather she liked it or not.  
  
* * * * *  
  
The hours dragged on with no sign of Rika or Noniko. Renamon had learned to be patient. But something was eating at her. Finally she asked. "Where is . . . Noniko's normal place of business this time of day?"  
  
The old woman thought for a moment. "I think that would be De Moir's studio."  
  
"Where is it?" Renamon insisted.  
  
"Three block down the start of main street, business section. White building, lots of glass windows, saves them a fortune on lighting bills she told me. It's impossible to miss."  
  
"Thank you." Renamon replied with a quick bow and prayer stance. "My gratitude for the food and the hospitality you've shown me in your home."  
  
The woman didn't need to ask where the vixen was going. "You think Rika will be there?"  
  
"You said so yourself. . . Rika is like me. We both try to bury our feelings. But Rika needs her mother, her real mother. Something I can't be no matter how much I wish. Thank you again. I will return with your granddaughter or not at all." The kitsune stepped into a shadow and faded into invisibility before the old woman could react.  
  
A few minutes later, as Renamon sped across the rooftops of Tokyo as swift and unseen as the wind: she almost lost her stride and stumbled. Something she never did. Something was seriously amiss. She could sense Rika, but who was that with her? Why did it feel like there was more than one of her? That simply didn't make any sense.  
  
Renamon followed the strange aura and eventually found herself approaching the school where the Tamers Takato and Lee went. The feeling of -wrongness- grew even stronger as he watched the central playground fill with men wearing space suits and airtight plastic tents.  
  
Renamon wouldn't have cared less if the place had been on fire, or under attack by that gigantic radioactive digimon Godzillamon she'd seen on movie posters plastered all over the city. She had to find her Tamer. There simply wasn't any other option.  
  
But where was Rika? There! A single leap took her from the sidewalk to the school's rooftop. Unseen by the humans milling below, she soon found the digitized human child curled into a ball, shivering.  
  
"Rika?" Renamon asked tenderly.  
  
The former human's violet within black eyes opened and her shaking slowly stopped to see the kitesune-mana digimon standing above her.  
  
"R-Rika?" The child digimon repeated as if unsure what the word meant. She got to her feet, her legs trembling; she took hold of the raised edge of the building to keep from vomiting her insides. Renamon didn't know whether or not to help her; Rika's pride was a delicate thing.  
  
One of Rika's legs collapsed out from underneath her. She was in danger of tumbling over the side of the building.  
  
To hell with pride!  
  
Renamon took hold of her within her arms, and kept holding her long after it was obvious to both of them that Rika didn't need her support.  
  
"Rika are you okay?" Renamon asked. Normally a dumb question, but Rika often had to be forced to admit when she needed help, Renamon bitterly admitted, Terriermon in his own way had been right.  
  
"I . . . w-we're just fine." The smaller digimon breathed her head swimming. What had been going on?  
  
"We?" Renamon thought with alarm.  
  
"Rika . . ." She spoke seriously. "What's your full name?"  
  
The child struggled to reply, but three equally correct sounding replies fought to escape her lips. One name finally did. A name that fit with what the digimon standing in front of her had called her so far. "Rika Nonaka."  
  
Renamon was relieved. "I was afraid I had lost you again."  
  
Rika spoke darkly gathering herself. "Don't you mean gained me again?"  
  
Renamon understood her feelings. "That can never be. Not really. It's a lie that can only trap and hurt us both. Come now. Your grandmother is waiting for you back at home."  
  
"I . . . I . . . have to . . ." It seemed she was struggling with what she wanted to say, or didn't want to say. "Have to . . . seemymother." Renamon's hearing made it simple for her to catch the slurred reply.  
  
"You're worried about her." Renamon pointed out.  
  
Rika hissed. "Don't rub it in."  
  
"I was actually thinking that was where you would be going. I could sense your aura linked to that place somehow." Renamon decided to leave out the strange experience that Rika's aura had give her, though for now it seemed back to normal.  
  
"Let's go then." Rika breathed.  
  
"Your grandmother gave me directions. Follow me." Renamon honesty couldn't resist the last part -Everyone had their moments of weakness-. "That is, if you can keep up"  
  
Renamon blasted ahead. Rikamon followed a mere fraction behind her. She was determined not to be shown off that easily.  
  
Renamon, with the digimorphed Rika just a fraction of a second behind her, sped across a sea of tiled and slate covered rooftops like a yellow furred bullet train. Jumping from one to another with the ease of a human taking a single step, she crossed a good portion of Tokyo.  
  
Barely a handful of minutes away from where she'd started; Renamon was soon approaching the city's business district and the exclusive photo studio De Moir where Rika's mother, Noniko, did much of her high-fashion modeling work. Hurling herself from a roof ledge, Renamon gracefully spun head over paws several times before landing as light as a feather on the concrete sidewalk three stories below.  
  
Without missing a beat, she and Rika zigzagged through the sparsely crowded streets and roads as if the people and cars they passed were standing still. Such was their velocity that few people noticed much more than a blur and gust of wind as they passed.  
  
The reason for the sparsely inhabited neighborhood in the normally crowded city soon became apparent, a sea of humanity surrounded the photo studio. A crowd of people at least six deep fought to peer through the shop's large front window. And even more people where coming from all directions.  
  
Slowing only for the moment it took to plan her next move, Renamon, with Rika following closely behind, faded into invisibility and materialized on the building's roof without a single human noticing their arrival.  
  
"Now what?" Rika asked as Renamon pondered that very question.  
  
Going through the front door was out. While Renamon could easily enter the building and move about unseen. - It was the rare human indeed who could perceive her presence unless she wished it so. - Rika was the wildcard in this equation.  
  
Renamon took a glance at Rika and saw her smirk. Damn! It'd happened again! She knew that look. It was the same one Reremon had shown her before leaping into the battle that would take her life. The same devil-may-care expression Rikamon had begun to mimic when the virus had nearly succeeded in transforming a human Tamer into a living ghost of her dead child.  
  
Renamon wondered if seeing her real mother would snap Rika back to reality again. Would Rika, now seemingly fully transformed in body and soul into her digimon daughter, Reremon, recover her human memories when a human woman called her daughter?  
  
A question, fate dictated, was doomed to go unanswered this day.  
  
"Mother! Come quick!" Rika yelled from several feet away.  
  
Wincing internally at the label, Renamon turned to see that Rikamon, with all the stereotypical brashness of a kitsune cub, had gone exploring with little care as to the consequences.  
  
Finding a large glass skylight, Rika had knelt and looked down hoping to find the source of all the excitement. Her hopes were quickly realized. What Renamon saw as she knelt beside her instantly made her forget what Rika had called her.  
  
Despite being total immersed into her digimon persona, Rika's human subconscious screamed in outrage at being forced anywhere near this place. This hated human place that she held directly responsible for taking her... what? This brightly lit place, these money-loving smiling people with their snapping cameras that had come between her and . . . who?  
  
Try as she might, the answer refused to come, but the emotions tied to this place where as hot and bright as the lights shinning on the Kyubimon standing in the center of the room.  
  
Few digimon would ever know the beauty, intelligence, power and grace every kitsune, both male and female, considered their birthright from Rookie to Mega. No matter the level of digi-evolution, the word most used to describe them as a group was -among themselves-... perfection.  
  
Yet, as with all things in the Real and Digital World, even perfection on occasion could be surpassed. And, if Renamon's low growl of green-eyed envy was any indication, the creature they were staring at so intently was one such rare case.  
  
Standing rock still on four well-muscled limbs, a Kyubimon female stood chained in the center of a large wooden stage as if daring the circling cameraman to come within range of her sharp three-clawed paws.  
  
Every strand of fur on her body and mane seemed to have a mind of its own. Even the slow movement of her head, as her eyes remained fixed on the rapidly clicking camera lens, seemed sufficient to make them float upwards until they gradually fell back exactly into place.  
  
While the humans in the room could likely understand only snippets of what the cameraman mumbled as he worked, the superb hearing inherent in all three digimon present had no such trouble.  
  
"That's good! Look at the lens! That's it! You're angry! You're unconquerable! Freeze! Look away... now! The camera isn't worth your time! Great! Now do it to the right when I move that way! Even better! I love ya! Now, lets do it again... with feeling!"  
  
From her rooftop viewpoint, Renamon had full view of the Kyubimon's spine. Just a glance at all those tensing muscles was all she had to see. The human with the camera had crossed the line, and, unless she did something, he was about to die. Horribly.  
  
The act took but two seconds. Renamon grabbed the bottom edge of the skylight and yanked with all of her strength. The flimsy construction flew out of her paws and sailed across the roof landing in a hail of glass shards many feet away. She and Rika dropped into the room. Both prayed that they'd be quick enough to get the foolish human out of the line of fire in time.  
  
A second too slow.  
  
"Fox-Tail Inferno!" The Kyubimon yelled. Oblivious to the danger, the human kept clicking away as if trying to capture the huge pile of yellow bottles behind the creature about to kill him. There was no way he could know that the melodious voice yelling those three words had just condemned him to an agonizing death by incineration.  
  
What had been a painfully bright room before went nova. Lowering its head to aim, the Kyubimon raised all nine of her tails in a perfect circle. From their tips white-hot balls of flame flew at the human.  
  
None would miss.  
  
Just inches away, Renamon grabbed Rika and bumped into the cameraman causing him to drop his camera. It was too late. The human was toast. The best she could do was protect Rika with her body from the wall of flames hurling towards them. No matter the price, a digimon must protect its Tamer. A digimon must protect those it loved.  
  
She had failed in this task once. Never again.  
  
The flames passed leaving little more than a mild scent of brimstone and ozone in their wake. That, and one extremely annoyed cameraman.  
  
"You idiots! Do you have any idea what that camera costs?! If you ruined that film you're both going to pay! It took all day to get this shampoo shoot organized!"  
  
"Relax Jackie, I'm sure it was an accident. You know how Rikamon is." The Kyubimon spoke as she walked off the stage dragging the heavy chain behind her. In their rush to save the cameraman, neither Renamon nor Rika had noticed that it'd been attached to nothing.  
  
"Rikamon? You know who Rikamon is?" Renamon repeated word for word in shock.  
  
Not only had she just survived a massive attack that'd been far more bark than bite, this creature recognized Rika as a digimon. Could it be?  
  
"By any chance is your name... Noniko-er,mon?"  
  
"I see my daughter is up to her old tricks." The Kyubimon announced followed by a deep sigh. "You know how young Mons can be. She has never accepted what I do for a living since her father... left. It's not like I haven't tried. This is nothing. You should've seen what happened the last time I brought her here! Sorry, gotta go before Jackie has a meltdown. The clock's still ticking!"  
  
In an instant the Kyubimon is buried under an avalanche of brushes and hair blowers. The makeup people work rapidly to ready the furry digimon for resumption of the interrupted photo shoot. None seem phased in the slightest that the famous modeling star premiering in this shampoo commercial walks on four legs and throws fireballs on command. None seem likewise perturbed in the slightest that their bodies were displaying the early signs of a transformation that they could never begin to imagine.  
  
"Mother?" A shaky voice questions.  
  
Turning around, Renamon found Rika staring with a glazed eyes towards the Kyubimon having all her tails fluffed, and the claws on her paws painted a bright blood red.  
  
Renamon's answer is only one word longer. Pointing a paw in the Kyubimon's direction she replies, "That's her."  
  
"Oh." Rika replies as an anime sweat drop appears on her brow. A second later her eyes roll back as her unconscious body starts to slide towards the floor.  
  
Grabbing her limp body before it hits, Renamon races away with Rika cradled like a baby in her arms. The only thought going through her mind is an often repeated phrase common to both the Digital and Real Worlds.  
  
You know how young Mons... children... can be.  
  
  
  
* * * * *  
  
When Rika awoke, she realized she was in her room again. Had it all been a dream? She looked over her bare fur covered body and down at her three clawed toes. Nope, it wasn't a dream. It was a nightmare.  
  
"I was afraid you weren't going to wake up." Rika sensed Renamon behind her even before she spoke.  
  
"I'm still not awake. Not until this nightmare is over. Renamon, tell me . . . tell me please that what I remember seeing was just a nightmare. When I saw my mother, was she a...?"  
  
While Renamon was overjoyed that Rika was herself again, she hated being the bearer of bad tidings. Answering this question would bring Rika only more pain.  
  
"Yes. I can't be sure, but I talked to your grandmother. I don't think I need to tell you who took your clothes to the dry cleaners yesterday. This . . . infection, seems to have a mind of its own. At least for now, some humans are totally unaffected, while others need only the barest contact with a carrier to become totally digitized. Think of it this way: As the virus seems to spread faster with each host, on the bright side, as Terriermon might say, at least soon no one will notice you."  
  
How can I be so stupid! Renamon screamed silently at herself the instant the words left her mouth. Terriermon HAD to be rubbing off on her. She promised to kill the vaccine type the next time she saw him. Slowly.  
  
As Rika leaped to her furry feet, she snarled a very kitsune-like snarl at the image in the full-length mirror on the wall besides her bed pallet. Renamon had never seen such hatred in Rika's eyes before.  
  
And the worst part was, Rika thought, was that she'd been HER again. The digimon that wanted to take her place. Without even realizing what was happening, she'd allowed herself to slip into that other personality.  
  
Before Renamon could stop her, Rika smashed her fist into the glass and through the wooden wall behind it. The razor sharp shards drew blood. Rika felt nothing.  
  
"I hate digimon!" She almost yelled. "I hate everything about them!"  
  
"But Rika I . . ."  
  
"Shut up Renamon! I hate you!"  
  
"But Rika now you're also . . ."  
  
"Then I guess I'll just have to hate myself too. And everyone else whose been infected or whatever! I hate it! I hate everything! . . " Her voice nosedived to a whisper. "Every . . . thing."  
  
Rika went to her knees. Shaking. Tears were coming down her face. She was too tired to hide them.  
  
"Not fair . . . it's not fair . . . any of it. It's just not fair. Renamon? Momma? Why isn't it fair?"  
  
Renamon knelt down and hugged her surrogate daughter. "I don't know, Rika. I just, I just don't know."  
  
In an unconscious gesture that seemed oddly familiar and strange at the same time, Renamon ran her gloved paw down Rika's fur covered back. It was several minutes before the digimon realized why and how wrong it was.  
  
She was comforting a ghost.  
  
"NO!! REREMON'S GONE!! I FAILED HER!! I WON'T FAIL RIKA!!" Renamon yelled into the confines of her own troubled thoughts as she held Rika even tighter.  
  
Human or kitsune, at least this still seems to work. Renamon mused as her tears, a mother's tears, fell upon Rika's back.  
  
"Maybe that's just the way it is Rika."  
  
Rika heard a familiar lullaby. She couldn't remember where she'd heard it before, and she was sleeping comfortably before she could ask. Asleep in the arms of someone who loved her. Someone that would never... ever... go away and leave her alone.  
  
* * * * *  
  
"Jeri!" The girl moaned. She knew to whom THAT voice belonged to.  
  
"Couldn't you have come ten seconds earlier?" Jeri mumbled.  
  
"Hey! I don't know how to turn invisible yet. It took me a while to sneak away."  
  
Kazu defended as he stepping around the fully morphed digimon lying on the ground.  
  
Kenta's beak somehow managed a smirk. "Your just can't admit you were too scared to help her."  
  
The lizard boy pointed a suction cup tipped finger at his friend. "You were there too!"  
  
"I wasn't scared. I was... hesitant." Kenta screeched. To hide his embarrassment, the boy turned digimon bird spun his head a hundred and eighty degrees and spent a few seconds needlessly preening the feathers on his back.  
  
The pair went on playing the blame game, ignoring Jeri and the new digimon that'd begun to wander away in a daze, soon to rounded up like animals. Neither boy was paying the world around them any mind. It was only a matter of time before the men in the bright yellow hazard suits came by and dump them in a plastic tent for safekeeping.  
  
I really don't have time for this! Jeri thought to herself. Wait. Maybe they can help!  
  
"Give it a rest, you guys! Lee has me running an important errand for him." Jeri put on a fake smile and her sweetest voice, "I was wondering if you could help me out."  
  
"Uh... right. Sure. What did you have in mind?" Kazu faced her.  
  
"Well, all you have to do is go down to Takato's house and check on his family. Lee's worried they might've changed completely into digimon by now. See what's going on and report back to Lee. We're staying in the park at Guilmon house."  
  
The two cringed at the memory of Takato's 'stuffed animal joke.' Still, the chance to be given something important to do was the kind of thing Kenta couldn't pass up.  
  
"You can count on us!" Kenta chimed. Jeri's eyes flitted back and forth. The men in the anti-contamination suits still had their hands full dealing with the other children. Not a one was looking in their direction.  
  
With acrobatic skill that'd been just a daydream before her change, she leapt towards the tree, which had once hid her attackers and bounded up and over the school's high wall. She was nearly spotted by the guards patrolling outside, but, luckily, all of them had their backs to the school.  
  
Clearly counting on the wall to keep the infected school children and teachers inside, each and every guard was clearly utilizing the limited visibility their suits provided by focusing upon anyone attempting to approach the school.  
  
None saw Jeri as she behind them.  
  
They're bound to look behind themselves sooner or later. Jeri thought, as she looked desperately somewhere to hide. Oh, great! One of them is turning around!  
  
Just as she prepared for what would likely become a mad dash to freedom, salvation came into view: a manhole cover. Knowing full well her injuries were going to make the physical effort extremely painful, she lifted the heavy metal lid and dropped down into the sewer before any of the guards could find the source of the noise.  
  
"Okay. How are... we... gonna get out?" Kazu pondered.  
  
"I don't know about you, but there's not much those guys can do if I fly over their heads." Kenta flapped his wings and rose several feet into the air.  
  
Kazu was aghast. When had Kenta learnt to fly? It wasn't fair! He hadn't even figured out to change his scale colors yet! Still, it never paid to look a gift bird in the beak.  
  
"How 'bout a lift for the flight-impaired, buddy?"  
  
Kenta pondered the request. His claim for flight proficiency was still more boyish bravado than aerodynamic fact. While owl wings were judged the quietest in the avian world, he couldn't count on being unheard when he flapped over their heads. Whether he could lift a large economy-size lizard avoid detection too only increased the odds against him.  
  
"I don't know if I can carry you."  
  
Kazu implored. "Sure you can. I don't weigh that much."  
  
Kenta clicked something and swooped down and picked Kazu by the shoulders with his talons. His best speed, nothing worth mentioning in the first place, dropped to little more than a walking pace as he struggled for height. While Kazu, dangling below, fought his reptilian instincts not to panic as bird talons dug into his green hide.  
  
"See? No trouble at all. Now both of us can get out." Kazu announced as they cleared the wall by a couple inches.  
  
"That's easy for you to say. I need to go to the bathroom." Kenta replied as he strained to gain height.  
  
"No!"  
  
The next part is best left unwritten.  
  
* * * *  
  
After taking the pieces of glass out of Rika's fur covered hand and bandaging it with the aid of the girl's grandmother, the kitsune returned the child to her bed.  
  
Renamon's eyes hardened with decision. Yes. Despite her protest to the contrary, Rika was a child. And no child deserved the fate destiny had dealt Rika.  
  
"Is she asleep?" The old human woman asked concerned.  
  
"Yes." Renamon replied tersely. "But the question is: who will she be when she wakes up... I'm leaving."  
  
"What?" This was a surprise. After everything this creature had gone through to protect Rika, she was just going to abandon her?  
  
Renamon did her best to explain. "As I've told you already, I can't live a lie. Rika's place is here with you. My presence here would just cause her other self to fight for control. I could never allow that to happen to Rika. If she is herself when she wakes up, please try to help her understand. Good..."  
  
Mid word Renamon vanished. She simply couldn't trust herself to remain even a second longer. Rika turned over in her sleep. Something was wrong. Something important had gone away. Her troubled dreams caused her to curl even deeper into a fetal position without awakening.  
  
* * * *  
  
Ankle-deep in a sewer, Jeri too had come to a decision. She was REALLY glade her infection had not yet gifted her with a cat's sense of smell. Otherwise, and she was positively sure about this, she would've passed out long ago. Instead just the urge to vomit was growing stronger with each step she took.  
  
At least she'd managed to get some work out of those useless goofballs, Kenta and Kazu. With a little luck, okay, with a lot of luck, those two would be able to check on Takato's family without causing a citywide panic.  
  
Maybe.  
  
That only left Lee's, Rika's, and her own loved ones to meet. Damn! She'd forgotten to tell Kenta and Kazu to check on their families too! Oh, well, it was their call in the end.  
  
Not that it mattered. If she didn't get out of this filth infested tunnel soon, it was unlikely she'd live long enough to find out how those two had faired. With all the cuts and scraps covering her body, she was bound to catch something lethal down here.  
  
Totally exhausted, she doubted if she'd have the energy to lift a manhole cover. And, considering how her luck had been running lately, a car was promised to run her over even if she did.  
  
"Oh great! Like I need another problem!" Jeri yelled into the reeking air. Even if she somehow managed to get out without becoming road kill, how was she supposed to know what manhole to lift? It's not like anyone had bothered to paint street signs down here.  
  
As Jeri completed the thought, she almost tripped over something. At first she feared the worst... her present location brought all kinds of horrible possibilities to mind... but found to her relief only a partially filled bag of cement.  
  
As her heartbeat returned to something near normal, she pondered the strange object. "What would that thing be doing down here?"  
  
Just then, Jeri remembered how Lee had described all the construction work going on near his home as he wrote out his address. Could one of the workers left it down here for safekeeping?  
  
Groping around in the darkness (Jeri promised to spend a few YEARS washing her hands the first chance she got) she found some rusty metal bars sticking out of the wall. They could be nothing less than the rungs of the ladders sanitation workers used to get in and out of the sewers.  
  
Climbing carefully up the slick slime covered bars, she paused beneath the manhole to listen for street noise. Hearing none, and hoping that her end would be swift and painless if she was wrong, Jeri slowly, carefully lifted up the cover.  
  
"Please don't let there be a car up there." She silently prayed.  
  
The cover creaked open a few centimeters and a beam of sunlight shot down, piercing the depths of the sewer. She couldn't help but smile as a fresh air flooded into her nose. Nearly blinded by the light after spending so much time in near pitch-black conditions, Jeri peeped out of the crack into the world outside.  
  
Despite the tiny opening, it was easily enough to see that the sidewalks, and, more importantly, the road, was disserted. Not a single person or vehicle was in sight. It was safe!  
  
With a deep sigh of relief, she slid off the cover and returned to surface world. Right in front of her was a massive apartment complex and a sign that confirmed that she was exactly where she'd hoped to be.  
  
"Let's see, Lee said he lived on the 4th floor. What was the number again?"  
  
Jeri pulled the little cooked piece of paper out.  
  
"Apartment 21A." She read out loud. As Jeri took the stairs up the building she kept chanting the info. And a good thing she did. Except for the different numbers stenciled on each one, there was absolutely nothing to distinguish one blank door from another.  
  
Finally, after looking at several dozen doors, she found the object of her search: a door with the inscription 21A.  
  
"Great. I'm here. Now what am I suppose to tell them?"  
  
She repeated the question as she lightly knocked on the door half hoping no one was home. No such luck. She heard footsteps. A blonde furred woman wearing a bright green apron and flower patterned dress answered the door.  
  
"Hello?" The woman spoke hesitantly, not stepping outside the door frame.  
  
"Uh... Hi. Are you Mrs. Wong?"  
  
Jeri decided to just stick to the truth. Or, rather, what passed for the truth these days. The fur covered woman nodded. Jeri nearly bust out laughing when the long ears sticking out of the woman's head keep moving long after her head stopped.  
  
"Please, come in." Mrs. Wong implored Jeri. From the concerned tone of her voice, it was plainly obvious that the woman believed Jeri to be an abused child running away from something.  
  
Upon entering, Jeri could see that Mrs. Wong was nowhere near as far gone as her initial impression had led Jeri to believe. While the woman appeared to be completely covered in a plush layer of blond fur, her general shape remained unchanged. If you overlooked the sharp-tipped rabbit-like ears sticking out of her head, and the short tail poking out of an expertly sown hole in the back of her dress, she was practically unchanged. Heck! She could even wear shoes!  
  
Speaking of tails, just looking at Mrs. Wong's reminded Jeri of the constant discomfort hers was causing. If only she could hold a needle and thread without becoming a hazard to everyone around her.  
  
As Jeri thought on the best way to ask the partially digivolved woman for a favor, Mrs. Wong spoke.  
  
"Is this about Lee?" Mrs. Wong asked, "He's my son. Maybe you've seen him?" She pointed to a photo of Lee hanging from the wall.  
  
"I... don't know where he is right now." Jeri replied. She didn't dare tell her. His entire family would probably go looking for him. In his current state, that would be one heck of a family gathering that was best avoided. Oh, well, so much for telling the truth.  
  
"He asked me to check on you guys and make sure you were alright."  
  
"Oh." A look of worry crossed Mrs. Wong's face.  
  
"But he's fine. Don't worry, ma'am." Jeri tried to cheer her up. At that moment, the front door pushed open and Mr. Wong came into the room. "Dear, since Dr. Osto said he's never seen anything... Oh! I didn't know we had a visitor."  
  
He moved sideways to block someone from view. Way too slow when dealing with someone with cat-like reflexes. Jeri had already seen what appeared to be yet another copy of Terriermon hiding behind the man's legs.  
  
"Oh, don't worry sir." Jeri let her tail unwrap from her waist and waved it proudly.  
  
"So... we're not alone. Thank God. And here I thought we were all just going mad."  
  
Mr. Wong sat down and told Jeri the entire story. About how Suzie had suddenly started changing, and how they likewise had come down with the same 'infection' shortly afterwards.  
  
Jeri reached for her Digivice and froze in horror. After the 'Agouti incident' she'd come to nearly hate the little machine. No choice. Pushing her fears aside, she scanned first scanned Suzie.  
  
"Terriermon."  
  
The picture was nearly identical to the digivolved child sitting on the living room couch with her. That is, if you ignored the ill fitting pink Chinese dress Lee's baby sister was wearing.  
  
She pointed the Digivice towards Suzie's father.  
  
Anubimon.  
  
Humm? That's odd. He doesn't seem to be changing. I wonder why? Jeri thought as she glanced at the dog-like creature in the middle of the little screen.  
  
She scanned Mrs. Wong.  
  
Prairemon.  
  
"Sorry, Lee. About your family: buy lots of flea powder."  
  
Jeri dreaded her next meeting with Lee. He was gonna lose it for sure when she got back.  
  
"You know, I think Lee has one of those too." Mr. Wong was referring to her D-Arc, "What are they anyway?"  
  
"You don't want to know." Jeri darkly replied. "Well, I better go." She stood, bowed politely, and headed for the door. "Tell Lee we miss him and Karen's been stealing his CDs." The young Terriermon shouted. Jeri smiled and left their apartment.  
  
"Okay. Who's next on the monster list?"  
  
Jeri rushed out the door before Lee's family could pry anything out of her that she didn't dare give them. If Kenta and Kazu are still focused on Takato's family, now there's a big 'if', that leaves me only Rika's... and mine.  
  
Jeri wasn't trilled in the slightest on the idea of seeing the fate of her family. No matter how blameless her role had been, she would never forgive herself if they changed into digimon-whatever.  
  
Putting off the inevitable, she chose to buy time by seeing Rika's place first. So deep was Jeri into her dark thoughts that she almost forgot to return her tail to its hiding place.  
  
Jeri looked down again at the address Lee had given her for Rika's home.  
  
Hmm . . . it was quite a ways away in the old part of town with all those traditional buildings. For several seconds she considered going back for her stolen bike, but finally decided against it. She couldn't afford getting locked into a plastic tent. All those guys in the spacesuits looked deadly serious.  
  
She even considered stealing another bike, but decided against that too. One case of grand-theft bicycle was enough for one lifetime, thank you very much. She would just have to walk it.  
  
"Wait! The subway!" She nearly shouted out loud when the thought crossed her mind.  
  
But did she have any cash for the subway? Normally she'd be too scared to even contemplate going into that crowded place all by herself. Yet, no one could call her defenseless now.  
  
She looked at herself in the glass window of a store. No, not pointed ears. No cat-like nose or whiskers. At least, none that was visible so far. Whatever was happening to everyone else seemed to be satisfied with her condition for now. Or was it just taking its time?  
  
Jeri felt a shiver go down her tail. At least, like Lee said, she could pass for a human being right now, Kenta and Kazu on the other hand. Boy, she wondered how many stares they were getting right about now.  
  
* * * * *  
  
The answer to Jeri's question would've numbered in the hundreds.  
  
Kenta recapped their plan in one single breath.  
  
"Okay. This is it. We go into Takato's place over there and see if his parents are even still remotely human. And then we head to the park... assumingly they're still staying in that place where Guilmon scared us... and tell the others what we saw."  
  
"Yea, I think that's it." Kazu replied dubiously. Despite, or maybe because of having learned that Guilmon was real, and not some puppet Takato had rigged up to scare them, the idea of getting anywhere near that little concrete build still scared him witless.  
  
"Okay, just checking, things always seem to get complicated with the more simple stuff." Kenta replied snapping his beak shut to emphasis the point.  
  
The two boys walked across the street to the bakery's front door. Both still remembered the scaled woman from the night before. What would she look like now?  
  
Kazu said. "You go in first."  
  
Nether of them wanted to find out.  
  
"No, you go in first." Kenta replied.  
  
"Ugh. Okay. Why don't we both go in together?" Both boys spoke as one.  
  
"I'll flip you. That okay with you, Kenta?"  
  
"Uh . . . fine."  
  
"Okay, Dead American president I go in. Nude birds you go in."  
  
"Cute. Was that a bird putdown joke? And where'd you get a quarter anyway?"  
  
"Got it off some exchanged student from New York a couple of months back. He called himself Genki or something. Stop wasting time. Call it! Oops, got stuck on my fingers. Okay, let's try this again."  
  
Kazu still had a long way to getting use to having sticky fingers, but that was nothing compared to the fact (after all it WAS only since this morning) that his best friend had turned into a feathered nudist.  
  
Kenta likewise keep rationalizing the same point. How could he be naked if he was completely covered in feathers? It was not like anything naughty was showing. Why was Kazu still making such a big deal about it and refusing to do likewise?  
  
And despite Kenta's bird-logic... reptiles keep everything inside too, Kazu... the lizard-like boy whose friend was wearing the huge binoculars (wasn't it ironic that his new self still wore glasses?) refused to comply. To heck with modesty! Kazu's clothing was his sole link to his rapidly fading human past.  
  
Besides, no matter how funny he looked, they still came in useful.  
  
Unless they got close enough to tell the difference, most people just assumed they were a couple kids running around in weird costumes. When Kenta flew, or Kazu stuck out his yard long tongue, the situation changed instantly.  
  
That's when the shouting started. So far they'd avoided the police. Or, what was worse, an animal control officer holding a net. Living the rest of their lives behind bars in a zoo was something neither boy looked forward to.  
  
Fortunately, none of the general public who'd guessed their true nature had caused city-wide havoc. Back to the subject of Kenta, none of the kids or teachers back at the school seemed to care about Kenta's lack of dress. It wouldn't be long, at least at this rate -save for high level digimon-, before clothing became something only seen in a museum.  
  
Kazu's shoes were getting more uncomfortable by the minute, and his still growing tail certainly didn't like being stuck down one of his pants legs. At this rate, it wouldn't be long before the situation was out of his control despite his wishes. Good-bye cotton! Hello slimy scales!  
  
Except for his whining voice, Kazu couldn't see a single hint of his longtime friend in the body of the digimon standing in front of him. And even that was masked by the clicking sound Kenta made with his beak every time he completed a sentence.  
  
How much of his friend, or himself, was left? Both of them still knew they had been human beings most of yesterday. And their personalities didn't SEEM to have changed. But if what Kazu had seen when they'd meet Jeri was any indication, the outlook didn't look good.  
  
"I wonder. Will I even miss ME when this is all over?" Kazu mused before his gloomy thoughts were interrupted by Kenta yelling, "Heads!" just before the coin hit the ground.  
  
"Ha! Tails! Get going lizard lips." Kenta quickly pushed Kazu through the doors of the bakery before he had a chance to call fowl. A dainty bell rang as the door pressed closed.  
  
"Uh... hello? Anyone here?" Kazu shouted. "Well, there's nobody home. Let's go." The lizard tried to go back through the way he came in but a wall of feathers stood in his way.  
  
"Not so..." Kenta took him by the shoulders and pushed him back inside, ending up getting himself inside as well.  
  
"Coming! Coming!" a loud raspy voice replied from upstairs. The steps were creaking from something really heavy pounding down on them.  
  
"Hello! Sorry to keep you waiting. What can I do for you?" A female voice sweetly asked, "Oh, you two are Takatomon's friends, aren't you? He's not home right now."  
  
Both boys were speechless. Standing before them was a rather large, make that huge, blue dragon Digimon. "Well? What's wrong? A Gatomon steal your tongues?" Takato's mom joked.  
  
"You... you're..." Kazu reached into his pocket and pulled out his Digimon card deck. Thumbing through the different cards, he finally drew one showing a huge lizard like the one before them. "V-Dramon. Wow."  
  
Kenta peered at the card, "Wasn't that the one I traded you for last week?"  
  
"So, I guess you're not human anymore, huh?" Kazu meekly inquired, somewhat frightened of a monster twice, no, three his size with sharp teeth. The fact that Mrs. Matsuda was naked hadn't even begun to register in his mind yet.  
  
"Humon? Well, now that you mention it, I think I Digivolved from a Humon." Takato's mom stared at Kazu and Kenta like they weren't making much sense.  
  
"What about Takato's dad?" Kenta asked nearly stumbling over his words.  
  
Kazu had already become a little more comfortable talking to her, maybe it was due to him being a reptile type too, he couldn't tell for sure.  
  
"Are all Dinosaur Digimon this scary?" Kenta thought to himself.  
  
"I'm not sure what he digivoled from." Was the V-Dramon's idle reply, her mind coming up blank when trying to access that information.  
  
"Uh, no I meant where IS he?"  
  
Why did I just ask that? Kenta thought as he made plans to flee the room squawking in terror. She might not think I'm lunch, but what if he does?  
  
Takato's mom laughed. "Oh, well why didn't you say so?" She smiled, bringing Kenta's rising panic level to a near boil. Having all those shiny rows of razor sharp teeth pointed in your direction can't be a 'good thing.'  
  
"A young couple down the street is having a big family reunion, and they wanted us to do some of their catering."  
  
Kazu tried to keep his cool as he backed toward the door. "Oh. Well, we better go. You know, school and all. You coming, birdbrain?"  
  
"Huh?" Kenta finally managed to take his eyes all those pointed teeth.  
  
"Oh, sure. Bye Mrs. Matsuda."  
  
"Bye!" she waved and then stomped back up the stairs. They creaked as she went, proving wooden stairs were not meant for 200-pound dragon Digimon with huge clawed feet to traverse.  
  
Kenta briskly walked out the door and made sure no one was following.  
  
"Dude, what has your feathers in such a ruffle."  
  
"Call me crazy," Kenta could feel sweat trickling over his down feathers, "But I just don't like being that close to a predator Digimon."  
  
Kazu grinned. "Takato is a predator Digimon. He could chew straight through you in under a second. And I bet you taste just like chicken!"  
  
"Not funny Kazu! And I keep telling you, I'm an owl!"  
  
"Chicken, Owl... what's the difference. If I pluck all those feathers off I doubt if anyone could tell the difference."  
  
"Still not funny Kazu! Change the subject!"  
  
"Hey. Here's a thought. I'm pretty sure no one would miss us if we kinda... you know... forgot to go back to school. Like ever."  
  
"Yea . . . besides . . . did you get a good look at what was happening back there when we high tailed it over the wall, Kenta? It was starting took like one of those alien cover up things you see on TV!"  
  
"You watch too much TV." Retorted the lizard digimon Kazu.  
  
"And you don't?" That was one thing to be said about the two boys, they could always be counted on to retort each other's insults with 'you too.'  
  
"Okay, we've done our duty. We've checked out Takato's family. Let's meet Jeri at the old shrine and call it a day."  
  
The owl looked worried which was hard for a creature with few flexible facial features. "And go home and get our parents so mad at us for skipping school that they disown us?"  
  
"Okay, we head back to school and . . . oh yea, I wind up locked up for life in a laboratory somewhere."  
  
"What about me?"  
  
"You they'd just stir-fried with a little butter and mushrooms for lunch!"  
  
"That's sick! Besides, I'm allergic to mushrooms."  
  
"I'll make sure the chef knows that."  
  
"Funny! So what's it gonna be, Kazu? Home or school?"  
  
"I still think we should head home. I'm sure our folks will understand once they get a good look at us. You saw that new lady. Everyone must know by know what happened back there. I'm sure both our parents will be glad to know that we aren't in a bubble like everyone else by now."  
  
"So let's go tell the others what we saw and call it day." He subconsciously repeated his friend.  
  
"Hey! Why do we owe them anyway? Besides, Takato did this to us remember?"  
  
"And we never really had a chance to talk to him. Maybe he knows a way to change us back."  
  
Kazu was as frustrated as a ten year old could be when one of his ideas was shot down, but he was actually relieved that Kenta didn't like the idea of being a bird the rest of his life.  
  
"Fine . . . So, we fly the friendly skies?"  
  
"I don't know." Kenta said "That is, can I even carry you more that a block. You might be too heavy to lift much more than that."  
  
"Well, there's no harm in trying is there?!" Kazu shot back. "Besides, you did it ALREADY birdbrain!!"  
  
Kenta sighed, and had Kazu hop on rather than grabbing him with his talons again.  
  
Full of doubts over his ability to lift such a load, he began to flap his wings. To his surprise they lifted off without the slightest strain he's experienced before. He must be getting the hang of this flying stuff.  
  
"I guess you were right."  
  
"Aren't I always?"  
  
"Sigh...Uh . . . Kazu? People are staring at us!" Indeed, seeing a human sized owl carry a boy sized lizard got more attention then just a couple of 'boys in costume'.  
  
"Maybe this WASN'T such a smart idea, Kenta."  
  
Rileymon walked towards the Matsuda's bakery. She had gone out for food in spite of Yamakimon's insistence that they stay in doors. What was he so worked up about? So caught up was he in checking her grocery list and thinking about her mate, Yamakimon, that she was oblivious to the humans reacting to the sight of a giant fiery Lynx walking on two feet down the street.  
  
As she came within sight of her destination Rileymon paused for a second.  
  
Crossing her path were an Owlmon trying to fly while carrying a Chamelemon.  
  
"Kids!" she snarled. "Is it just me, or are young digimon getting dumber every year?"  
  
With all the stares and fingers pointed at them, it wasn't surprising that Kenta and Kazu failed to notice the humanoid Lynixmon that walked into the bakery they'd just left.  
  
Eventually all the shouting got on their nerves and Kenta landed roughly a quarter mile from where he'd taken off. All for the best actually, somebody was probably dialing the authorities to report that Martians had landed in downtown Tokyo.  
  
Although, Kenta had to confess that flying, in spite of carrying Kazu, seemed to take less effort than just walking. How long would it be before walking became the novelty for him and flying the norm?  
  
How much of the old Kenta would be left by then?  
  
* * * * *  
  
As Jeri glumly approached a subway train's open doors, the normally cheerful youngster wondered if throwing herself beneath its wheels would be a 'bad thing.'  
  
That's it. I've sunk to the bottom. One day I'm the pretty, but slightly odd girl with the hand puppet, the next I'm a bike-stealing, sewer- traveling, disease-ridden freakazoid.  
  
A further thought crossed her troubled mind as she entered the sparsely inhabited train car.  
  
Oh look! More people to infect! Were they going to turn into weird cartoon characters too just because we're sharing the same air?  
  
Thinking back on the bizarre pictures Takato drew in class when he should've been paying attention to the teacher, she began to imagine what might become of the handful of people reading papers or simply doing their best to ignore everyone around them.  
  
Look at those kids over there. Wouldn't they look better if they were just big-eyed furry heads with no bodies? And behind them, that lawyer type: Wouldn't he win more cases in court if was turned into a blue-furred gorilla with a cannon for a right arm? Oh, and heaven forbid we overlook the woman trying to hold onto all those overloaded bags of grocery. If she were a huge spider, she could carry several times more food back from the market.  
  
Barely noticing that she'd finally managed to sit down without painfully pinching her tail. Jeri shook her head violently hoping to dispel the odd images flooding her mind.  
  
It didn't work. The horrible images and thoughts kept coming.  
  
It was such a terrible feeling knowing she might be the cause of someone losing their humanity. It ate at her like acid. The sooner she checked on Rika's family and hers, and got back to Takato, the better.  
  
In spite of her new form, and his too for that matter, she found herself able to take her mind off things when he was around. Momentarily putting aside the monumental weight of guilt crushing down upon her normally jovial spirit, Jeri smiled when she thought back on Takato's antics.  
  
He'd always done that to her. Everyone always use to comment on how nice her smiles were. Nice. A word that fit her tighter than her beloved handpuppet.  
  
She acted nice, she talked nice. That's all she'd ever done to this point in her life. Did that make her nice? Jeri didn't know. The thought had never entered her mind.  
  
All she really wanted was this day, this nightmare of a day, to come to an end.  
  
Jeri doubted if the burn marks she'd suffered fighting the monster last night would ever go away, not to mention the souvenirs of the pounding Agouti and friends had added.  
  
Speaking of which, she really needed to have the openings in her skin looked at before they got infected with something. That is, if she hadn't picked every bug known to medical science already because of her little trek through a disease filled sewer. And even if they healed, the scars would likely be with her forever.  
  
Compared to the events that'd befallen her over the last twenty four hours... Sleeping under the stars in a public park, followed shortly thereafter by a mad dash across half of Tokyo to get back to school on time. A nearly crippling beating at the hands of Agouti and company, and an unforgettable scenic trip through a filthy sewer... her burns and ruined clothes were barely mentionable.  
  
Pain was another thing altogether.  
  
She'd been too busy running around to feel pain, but it was beginning to catch up. But she had no choice but to continue. She had to push on. Rika and her home . . . her home. What a lovely thought.  
  
What a pretty word. Home.  
  
She considered sleeping at her house when she got there, if anything to get her burns bandaged with some antibiotics, but could she take the chance she might infect her entire family too?  
  
"UGH!! When had life become so bloody complicated?!" she nearly shouted out loud.  
  
Jeri began to wonder (she was doing a lot it seemed) if she'd managed to keep going so far because she had a lion's stamina. By all rights, she should've passed out and reawakened in some hospital's emergency ward by now.  
  
Deep in her dark thought, she was taken completely by surprise when her head tilted back and she fell asleep upon the uncomfortable bench. For once, Jeri's sleep was dreamless.  
  
Jeri was jolted awake when the train came to a sudden wheel-screeching stop. A look at the 'current location bar', and an announcement from the speaker overhead, confirmed she was exactly where she was supposed to be.  
  
There was no doubt about it in her mind. She was just going to make more trouble by going home. It was so far away from the craziness going on back at her school, it was doubtful if anyone there had a clue what was going on.  
  
As Jeri exited the subway train and joined the horde of people filling the station platform, she looked down at the little slip of paper she'd memorized long ago.  
  
Time to get going! She thought to herself as she took the stairs back to street level.  
  
Shaking off the last dregs of her strangely refreshing half hour long nap, something that she adamantly refused to even consider describing as a 'cat nap', Jeri began to jog toward the address Lee had written on a page torn from Takato's beloved sketchbook.  
  
"Lee had better watch out." Jeri thought as she reduced her speed to a slow walk. "The Takato of old would go completely mental if he caught someone damaging his most-prized possession. The new Takato might simply swallow Lee in one singe huge dinosaurian gulp if given that degree of provocation." (However, now Jeri that thought, Takato HAD reduced the sketchbook to a collection of burnt pages when he had digivoled. Maybe he wouldn't notice.)  
  
Her lack of urgency was understandable. She was in no real hurry after all. The longer it took to get to Rika's house, the more time she'd have to muster up the courage to visit her own home.  
  
A home that she couldn't help noticing would've out of place where she was currently walking. This piece of yore was very different from the rest of the city. It was far more traditional. Yes, there were restaurants and personal service shots all over the place, but there were far fewer skyscrapers than anyplace she'd ever lived.  
  
Reaching a street corner, Jeri saw a street name tacked on a wooden pole.  
  
"Covyer St. Okay. The note says to go left until I find a place with a gate that says Nonaka on it. That sounds easy enough." Jeri remarked to herself as she slowed her pace further hoping to stall what was surely to come as long as possible.  
  
Taking things slow had a serious problem attached to it: you had time to think about what you were doing, or how bad thing might be when you finally got somewhere.  
  
When Jeri had last seen Rika, she had gone off in a mad dash to see if her grandmother had been infected. Jeri wondered what she'd found waiting for her there. Even at her current leisurely pace, it wouldn't be long now before she knew too.  
  
Now that she had the time to think about it, Jeri realized that she'd spent much of her life hiding things from herself. She'd hidden the fact she was interested in digimon by constantly teasing Takato about it. What would people say if they saw her playing battle card games? Wouldn't that break the 'girlish' image she worked so hard to maintain?  
  
She'd hidden the weight of a lonely family life by wearing an unflappable smile, and engaging in a sock puppet act that bordered on just plain weird.  
  
At least it always returned my love. It was always there when I needed it. And that's far more that I can say for the person that calls himself my father. It would be great to see its goofy smile and button eyes right about now. Jeri thought as she continued to note the difference between her neighborhood and this part of the city.  
  
The 'suburbs' that Rika's home was in was strange compared to the inner city, but then again, Jeri herself didn't exactly live in a apartment building in the middle of a sky scrapper herself.  
  
Lost in her thoughts, Jeri almost missed the sign right in front of her nose. In bright red paint, a sign written in Japanese symbols spelled out the name 'Nonaka.' The sign was nailed to a wooden gate the protected a beautifully designed and strictly traditional home build out of wood and paper.  
  
It practically belonged in a museum.  
  
Jeri breathed in deep and told her feet to march forward and through the unlocked gate. Once within arm's length of the door, Jeri took hold of a rope she recognized as an old-fashioned doorbell and tugged gently.  
  
There was no response to the musical chatter of the bell chiming on the other side of the door.  
  
A second yank was equally as unproductive.  
  
Just as she began to fear the worst, maybe they had mutated into things that couldn't even open a door, the door did opened to reveal a perfectly normal human woman in her late forties to early fifties.  
  
"Hello dear, my, you look awful, are you okay?" The old woman spoke in deep concern for the girl who had appeared at her front door. The child looked like a victim of warfare. Her, her dress had fire marks all over it, and someone had oblivious attacked her. There was no way the youngster had gotten those kinds of marks falling off a bicycle.  
  
Not to mention. The child stank. Where had she been playing? A sewer?  
  
Following the old woman's gaze, Jeri realized she indeed did look a disaster.  
  
She had sleep on the ground in the dress she was wearing, and was covered head to toe in bruises courtesy of a playground gangbang and deep cuts from a fight with drunken punk rockers. And it looked like someone had tried to burn her dress off her body.  
  
All in all, Jeri was a pretty sad sight. It was plainly obvious why no one had commented on her mutated body. The terrible state of her clothing was the only thing people saw.  
  
"I... What was can I say? I've been through a lot in the last couple of days. I was wondering if... You're not going to believe me when... Oh, just look at this!"  
  
Jeri uncurled her tail until it nearly touched the ground. Embarrassed beyond words, she lowered her eyes too. She didn't see the old woman's reaction as she looked at the tail flickering back and forth.  
  
In a nearly inaudible voice, Jeri broke the silence.  
  
"I know that Rika has the same little 'problem'. A friend of mine asked me see how she was doing, and to check... to check to see if anyone else in her family had become... become infected."  
  
Without another word, Jeri took out her D-Power and scanned the old woman as unobtrusively as she could. Nothing. The screen was totally blank. The old woman wasn't infected. She wasn't infected!  
  
"YES! She's not-!" Jeri's screams nearly scaring the woman into a heart attack.  
  
Jeri caught herself mid-yell and locked eyes with the old woman. After her hysterical outburst, she truly expected to have the door slammed in her face. Instead, she found the elderly woman looking down at her with nothing but infinite compassion written all over her face.  
  
"Please. Will you come inside with me?" The woman requested as she took Jeri's hand and gently guided her0 through the doorway.  
  
Once both were inside, the old woman closed the door near-silently and resumed her unruffled examination of her odd guest. After a few seconds, she spoke once more in the same soothing tone.  
  
"In answer to your question, I've just been informed that my daughter, Rika's mother, is no longer human. She has completely changed into a four- legged kitsune-mana.  
  
She now resembles one of the mythical creatures of ancient Japan my grandmother spoke to me about in bedtime stories when I was much younger than you. And, she... she sees nothing wrong with this.  
  
I've been dreading her return. Every wall of this house, our ancestral family home, is covered with her photographs. Do you know how she will react when she sees them?"  
  
"I... I..." Jeri stuttered trying the find the words to express her jumbled thoughts.  
  
The old woman continued as if speaking to herself. "Rika seems worried that I might be joining her soon."  
  
Jeri looked at her D-Arc. She had to make a hard decision. Should she play it safe and keep silent, or bring a little peace of mind to a troubled senior citizen?  
  
She really had no choice.  
  
"I don't know . . . I don't know how much Rika has told you about her secret life, but let's just say I know that you're completely uninfected."  
  
Jeri's hopes that the woman wouldn't dig deeper were rewarded when she calmly replied, "Thank you, child. You have my humble gratitude. If you don't want to speak further on the matter, I will respect your wishes."  
  
Jeri was surprised to find herself blushing. "You're welcome."  
  
Jeri judged her mission here at an end. There was nothing else she could do. She should just turn around and leave, but found herself unable to do so. The last few minutes where the longest stretch of 'normality' she'd experience in days.  
  
And what did she have to look forward to, another long train trip to 'her' home?  
  
Who knew what she'd find there? Her role in whatever had befallen her family was a weight that was pressing down on her soul harder by the minute.  
  
She thought of an easy excuse to stay, "Can I see Rika?"  
  
After a moment of hesitation, the old woman smiled slightly and replied, "Yes, of course. Please follow me. A little company might be the best thing for my granddaughter right now."  
  
The unlikely pair walked slowly down a short corridor. The old woman hadn't been lying. Photographs and magazines covers bearing Rika's mother's portrait were everywhere Jeri looked. While not in the vast numbers Jeri had initially feared, it would be quite impossible for a visitor to spend more than a few minutes in this home without seeing a few.  
  
The elderly woman stopped in front of a large set of paper and wood sliding doors. And, once more, she hesitated. It was becoming increasingly obvious to Jeri that this woman's love for Rika was at war with her granddaughter's self-reliant and standoffish nature.  
  
It was even more obvious that she had no intention of losing the battle.  
  
"Rika? There's someone here to see you." She announced softly before sliding open one of the panels aside. Jeri needed but a single glance to confirm her suspicions, Rika had once again left once more unannounced.  
  
"That's odd," the old woman said, "I didn't see her leave." Of course, as a kitsune Digimon, there's no way humanly possible to know for sure if she had left or not.  
  
Rika's grandmother slid her hand down the inside of the doorframe and a soft clicking sound echoed throughout the room. At once a powerful ceiling light began to burn. Its powerful glow instantly chased the shadows from the walls. That is, all except one rather strange one. A bizarrely transparent child-size outline curled in the far corner of the room trying to use the natural shadows of the corner to make up for not being able to maintain it's true shadow form when asleep.  
  
"Ruki?" the old woman repeated even more softly than before.  
  
There was no reply.  
  
Once more the woman refused to admit defeat. She called out again.  
  
"Ruki?"  
  
Without warning, a tired voice, a voice tearing itself from the depths of sleep, spoke.  
  
"What do you want?" Rika demanded as she phased into full visibility and stood up. "Why don't you just leave me alone? Damn humans." The last part was said too low for anyone but Rika to hear, but her human mind, exhausted as it was, failed to grasp the danger and implications those two words posed.  
  
"You have a visitor." Rika's grandmother announced as she walked into the room with Jeri once more in tow. Without a word, the elderly woman pushed Jeri forward and stepped back. Whatever happened from here on in was up to Jeri.  
  
"Um... hi. Remember me from yesterday? Takato sent me..."  
  
"What are you? Goggle-head's little girlfriend or something?"  
  
Jeri takes a half-hearted claw swipe at her, but Rika avoided it easily. Tired or not, the fully morphed digimon's fighting reflexes could outstrip with ease any partially digivolved human.  
  
"We're just friends. He sent me to check on you."  
  
"I don't need him to check on me. I'm fine on my own, without him, and definitely without you! Let's go, Renamon? Huh? Renamon?" Rika had been too distracted by Jeri to notice the lack of her digimon.  
  
"She left." the old woman broke the news softly, "She said her presence was a bad influence on your humanity."  
  
"Why is it," Rika angrily muttered as she faded fully into her shadow form, "that everyone always leaves me when I need them?"  
  
In the space between one second and the next Rika was gone. Except for a barely perceptible ripple in the air, nothing betrayed her departure as she jumped across the entire width of the room and out the window in a single bound.  
  
At a far more sedate pace, Rika's grandmother stepped carefully around the wreckage of an antique mirror to reach the same window -She hadn't had the time to clean it-. As Jeri looked down at the bloody glass rubble littering the floor, the old woman watched as a golden blur ran away. Within a handful of seconds, the figure vanished from sight at a speed no mere human could ever achieve.  
  
"There she goes."  
  
Jeri looked up from the gore covered debris to the old woman's face; she was amazed by the serene look on her deeply lined face. For someone who'd had both their daughter and granddaughter turn into inhuman creatures, she seemed abnormally calm.  
  
"Why aren't you worried?" Jeri asked.  
  
"Ruki has graced the front door, the window and so forth with her presence a couple of times already in the last two days. Something tells me she'll be back when she realizes how much she misses being here, no matter how much she doesn't like to admit it."  
  
"But . . . this change can make people lose themselves! I... I've seen it happen. She might not remember this place at all!"  
  
"That, too, has happened at least once. But she remembered. Rika is nothing if not stubborn. She never lets anyone, or anything, control her for long. Even this... whatever this change is... will be unable to maintain its grip on her forever."  
  
"I met her for the first time just yesterday, but I've got to admit you've got the stubborn down exactly right. From what I saw... wait a minute! Ruki? Is that her digimon name? What do you know about them? Do you know someone named Renamon?"  
  
"The kitsune you speak of vanished earlier this afternoon, she said her continued presence would hinder Rika's ability to hold onto her humanity. As to why I keep calling her Ruki, that's her name, or at least her real name."  
  
"When did that happen? The name change that is."  
  
"Since shortly after Nonika and her husband separated, I'm afraid. Before the divorce, Ruki had always been a pleasant, if overactive, child. Afterwards... things changed. She became a completely different person.  
  
Everyone noticed it, especially her teachers. They even recommended that she be given Ritalin, but I fought against it. As most children of broken families do, I thought she'd eventually cope with the situation and adapt. I was wrong.  
  
I don't know where she first heard the name, maybe on TV, maybe from a friend, but she started calling herself Rika, she still responded when we called her Ruki, but . . . she was so distant, so bitter, she began to turn off everyone around her. She drove every friend she had away.  
  
Personally, I was happy when she got into that card game of hers. At least she had a hobby. And, even though Nonika and some of her friends said the game wasn't healthy, I believe 'anything' was better than her sulking in her room all the time.  
  
Things got worse when my daughter tried to 'show' Ruki how to act more feminine. It backfired completely. Ruki had come to blame her mother's career for the breakup by then. She was convinced that my daughter's job as a model had driven her father away.  
  
At first, Ruki acted out the part of tomboy to spite Nonika whenever she bought her a dress to wear, or worse, tried to bring her along to work at the studio. It became second nature soon enough.  
  
Competing in digimon card tournaments became the sole focus of her life. And it grew even more so when she lost last year. From that point winning became an obsession. It was too late to stop it. If I took the game away, I'd destroy any hope of ever reaching her. I'd been a fool not to act when I had the chance.  
  
When she won the tournament last summer she seemed empty. The light went out of her eyes. She acted like nothing mattered to her anymore. I was terrified that she might do something self-destructive. Nonika buried herself in her modeling career and tried to ignore the problem. It only made matters worse.  
  
Oh . . . I'm sorry. Old women tend to rant you know. I didn't mean to burden you with our problems. I used to think Rika was just what Ruki started calling herself, now I've come to think of Rika and Ruki as two separate people.  
  
It's strange, really. Just talking about this brings back bitter memories. I... remember when Nonika, when the divorce was finally over, found Ruki crying in her room about how 'daddy had gone away.'  
  
She said 'don't cry Ruki . . .' but Ruki said she wanted to cry. Nonika told her it would feel better if she didn't. I can still hear what she snarled back, 'Then maybe I shouldn't be Ruki anymore!'  
  
Looking back, that was probably when Ruki's mind was divided down the middle."  
  
The old woman paused and her eyes closed. It was obvious to Jeri that she'd never confided her fear to anyone before now, and that she was finding the experience painful indeed. In a voice that rose steadily in volume, she continued.  
  
"Oh why didn't I realize it sooner? Why did I have to be as blind as Nonika to the depths of Ruki's anguish? Why?!" The old woman cried as she hid her face in her hands and began to sob.  
  
Jeri didn't know what to do. She stood there for a minute, before deciding it was time to leave. She had no right to witness this.  
  
"Don't go." The old woman suddenly said. "You're absolutely a mess. Let me get you something to change into. That dress you're wearing will fall apart any second now. A new one will cheer you up."  
  
That's me, Jeri the cherry. Juri thought as she forced herself to hold still as the woman reached out to touch her blouse. Her mother... her real mother... had always called her Jeri because she was always so cheerful. And what others might've considered a bad pun stuck. On occasions, Juri found herself even writing Jeri down on her school reports, -her friends never looked at them so how could they know?- so how could she honestly judge herself any different from Rika?  
  
Of course I'm different! Juri nearly screamed out loud. I'm proud of my nickname! My nickname has nothing to do with mental problems! I use it out of respect for my mother! The one and only true mother I will ever have! Not because I've got a split personality!  
  
Instead of screaming out her own fears and anxieties, she said instead, "I . . . I couldn't accept your kindness. After all, we did just meet."  
  
"Then at least let me help you with all those hurts you have."  
  
Jeri looked at herself. Cuts, burns, bruises, and scrapes: none of them cleaned or dressed. She hadn't had the chance to go to the nurses' room when she was at school.  
  
"I . . ." Jeri stammered before finally relenting. "Thank you. That would be very kind of you." Kindness: Something precious, and tragically harder and harder to find in this world, especially now.  
  
"This way then, child." the old lady motioned for Jeri to follow her out of the room.  
  
Jeri was still uncomfortable. She wasn't used to anyone being this nice to her, and a nagging voice in the back of her mind told her she shouldn't trouble this old lady. And then she thought about what might happen if her cuts became infected. Pride had its place, but it would be far better to have someone treat her wounds now than lose a limb to gangrene later.  
  
Jeri stayed close, and soon arrived at another chamber in the vast estate.  
  
"This is Nonika's room. I'm sure she won't mind. Please stay here while I go find some bandages and disinfectant."  
  
Jeri walked in and sat on the soft, fluffy bed in the center of the room. It was decorated with lots of pillows, all of them pink with a white ruffle. Actually, the word pink pretty much described every single object in the room.  
  
The curtains, the bed, even the carpet was a white/pink mix. There was no question in Jeri's mind that pink was Rika's mother's favorite color.  
  
Nearby, littering the entire surface of an expensive looking pink vanity, of course, sat a huge assortment of exotic makeup, brushes, and photographs. Most of the snapshots were of a single person and obviously taken by a professional photographer. The beautiful woman, who had to the old woman's daughter, hardly seemed old enough to have a child Rika's age. But who else could she be?  
  
Rika's grandmother hadn't exaggerated in the least. Nonika was stunningly beautiful. With a face like that, her daughter probably spent most of her time modeling. If her income was needed to maintain this immense home, she would have to.  
  
One picture in particular caught Jeri's attention. Mostly because it wasn't of the woman Jeri assumed to be Nonika. It was a grayed photo of Rika, or more likely from a time when she still called herself Ruki, playing checker on the grass with a man. Both were smiling directly into the lens.  
  
"I must be her dad." Jeri thought.  
  
"Okay, let me see." Rika's grandmother reappeared at the entrance.  
  
"That was fast." Jeri spoke turning away from the vanity.  
  
"Oh, it's easy to get around this place when you know it inside and out. This might sting a little, but first things first like they say."  
  
The openings in Jeri's skin were cleaned out by a wet towel that was stained rust red by the time it was finished. Then came the part that any child, and most adults, dreaded.  
  
The woman poured some alcohol on a cotton swab and rubbed it directly into the cuts on Jeri's legs. The elderly lady knew what she spoke of. It did burn. Jeri cringed at the new pain but the old woman held her steady.  
  
After giving a few seconds for Jeri to recover, the old woman put a strange, mint-smelling ointment on them.  
  
"This is my own special remedy." the old lady announced, "Passed down from generation to generation in my family. I only wish Nonika would take the time to learn it also. It should help kill the pain."  
  
As Rika's grandmother smeared it over every cut and bruise she could find, Jeri sighed repeatedly in relief as the pain of her injuries were replaced by a soothing icy tingle.  
  
Rika's grandmother finished off the medical treatment by wrapping some of the more serious wounds with clean white linen strips.  
  
"There you go. Take two aspirin and call me in the morning." She lovingly smiled as Jeri let out a short laugh.  
  
"Thank you. It feels a little better now."  
  
"No problem. Are you hungry? If you are, it will only take a moment to cook up an excellent stew."  
  
"No thanks. I... I really should get going now."  
  
Not wanting to intrude further, Jeri followed the old woman to the door and the landing outside.  
  
"Here we are. Take care of yourself young lady." The Ruki's grandmother called out as Jeri slowly walked away. Her kindness alone had given Jeri just enough courage to face her own family. As she walked through the wood gates once more, Jeri wondered why Rika would ever run away from such a wonderful environment.  
  
Jeri thought of Rika's attitude, when an animal was in enough pain, it would bite at everything, including the hand that fed it, Jeri began to realize just how deep Rika must be hurt.  
  
"Oh please, before you go." The old woman called out from the doorway. "You didn't tell me your name."  
  
Jeri looked back and said without thinking. "Juri . . . Juri Kato."  
  
"Juri . . . you might want to hide that." She pointed and Jeri realized she had left her tail hang out. She immediately curled it beneath her dress. The action had become second nature and required little, if any, thought whatsoever. As a precaution, Jeri checked her fingers, no, her claws were not out.  
  
"You don't want people putting you in a bubble."  
  
"What?"  
  
"Child, just because I am old does not mean I don't watch the news. The news showed other people and children suffering from this . . . infection. But something tells me it might be better if you don't get yourself caught. I don't think I need to tell you the ultimate fate of plague carriers."  
  
"Don't worry I'll be careful, and thanks again."  
  
Jeri left the estate, grateful for the kindness shown her. Lee, Rika, the boys were checking on Takato's, that now only left hers . . . it was time to face reality, and fate.  
  
She had a long way to go, but her resolve would not faultier.  
  
"Here I come, dad! Ready or not!" she thought with renewed confidence and a newfound sense of courage.  
  
Both of which were tested when she considered her options. None of which were very good. She had no money for a cab, and was a long twelve miles walk between Rika's estate and her home. And she knew for a fact that no buses traveled far in that direction. It was the subway or bust it seemed. Even though, at its best, there'd be a five mile hike from the train's last stop to her front door.  
  
After taking a few wrong turns, and almost getting knocked over by a kid around her age wearing a baseball cap and yellow shirt who kept ranting about the time while looking at his cell phone, Jeri arrived at the station.  
  
Just then, it hit her. She hadn't applied the fact that she had no money to her solution of the current situation. She'd used what little money she had buying her ticket to get here. There was nothing left.  
  
As she pondered her dilemma, people waiting nearby in line to get on moved forward, and a man standing beside the open door checked to make sure they had purchased their tickets. Most stopped for nothing but a fraction of a second to flash their tickets before boarding.  
  
Jeri recovered her old ticket from her knapsack and prepared to resume her life of crime. After all she'd done so far, what could they do to her for stealing a train ride? With luck the man might not even notice.  
  
She quickly got into line and tried to look as discreet as possible. Holding the ticket between her fingers in such a way that only a tiny sliver was exposed, she raised it for the man to examine while mentally reviewing the worst-case outcomes: What if he became suspicious? Would he call the train police? Would they throw me in jail until my father came, if he ever did, to get me out? Would they write this on my permanent record? What will I do if...?  
  
A 'have a nice day' cut through her rising sense of panic as the man cheerfully waved and signaled for her to proceed onboard  
  
"He didn't notice!" Jeri nearly screamed out loud for the entire train station to hear. With a relieved mile spreading across her face, she gave thanks to the one person she believed responsible for her good fortune: Rika's grandmother.  
  
Maybe getting fixed up by the kind old woman had been the turning point in the ongoing horror show her life had become. Maybe things would work out for the best, and there'd be a happy ending waiting for her at the end of these train tracks.  
  
Maybe.  
  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
  
The wonderful studio scene was written by Charles, I felt like I should give credit where credit is due.  
  
Flames, comments, suggestions on what should happens next , reactions, reviews (good or bad) rants, compliments, and occasional constructive criticism all welcome.  
  
Just don't say 'MORE!' those reviews just leave him kind of empty. Oh by the way here's the gold rule when reviewing my stuff, be ruthless!!! 


	9. Reconnaissance Complete

Parts Nine and Ten Fusion Digivolution:

I decided parts nine and ten weren't long enough on their own so I joined them together. This marks the end of the old thread. So after this goes up we'll with hope start a new one to continue this saga at tsfmb.sonicfoundation.org . We're looking for writers for help keep this thing going to please go there and check things out. It might be a Sonic the Hedgehog message board but they pretty much let anything (decent) fly at the fan fiction board. 

While I have been removed from the board (I opened my mouth one too many times), and the name Alex Warlorn WILL never be able to appear on that board again, that doesn't mean it's over. 

This story also marks the brief joining of Broken Tusk to the crew. I doubt he'll hook up with us again when we start the thread up again due to his other projects but you never know.

Cannon mistake on our part. First we had Lee give Jeri Takato's whole sketch-pad, then just having him tear a page out of it. Sorry. We'll go with the paper sheet.

I need to stop saying 'almost' so much along with 'wonder' and 'so many days'.

Yes, both Owlmon and Chameleomon are armor types.

Should I change the name of this story? A lot of people seem to be getting turned off by it thinking it's an, ugh, Animorphs story. Or should I just edit in a note in the title as Charles suggested? 

Remember, I'm just one of a group. I'm the editor, one of the writers, and the originator. But Charles is the flesh-outer. 

Charles had a lot of good transformation preludes here, but they just didn't fit with the amount the virus has spread at this time. 

Anyone else being tormented by bugs on the fanfiction.net site too? This would have been here sooner, but the upload system has been turning my stuff into babble all night. 

~ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Yamaki squatted on his tail. It wasn't by choice. Not a single piece of furniture in his condo could possibly support his incredibly heavy inhuman frame. It wouldn't have mattered anyway. Even now the horns atop his reptilian skull were only inches away from the concrete ceiling. The massive scaly appendage jutting out of his rear would have to serve as a seat for the foreseeable future.

As the aforementioned appendage twitched seemingly with a mind of its own, he enjoyed the brisk breeze blowing through his apartment while tapping claw-tipped fingers upon the computer laptop resting on the floor before him.

The architects of his once-luxurious residence had plainly never taken an evil flying digital dragon's predilection for fresh air into consideration when they'd designed his apartment building. Immediately upon retuning from his humiliating defeat at the hands of a hated band of partially digivolved human children, Yamaki had gone about the task of remedying their understandable oversight. 

In a fit of nearly mindless animalistic fury, he'd torn through layers of ultra-expensive imported wood paneling and concrete cider blocks until only the steel-beamed cores of two walls remained. Only a perverted sense of human tidiness kept him from hurling the shattered remains down upon the heads of innocent passersby far below.

As he focused his attention on the tiny computer keyboard, a maintenance crew was still hard at work carting the debris away from where he'd flown down and dumped it in the middle of the parking lot. 

It wasn't long before the Janitor, or Building Maintenance Engineer in these Politically Correct times, came to investigate Yamaki's noisy handiwork. The elderly man's abrupt departure was followed shortly thereafter by the arrival of the building's owner, several units of the nearest fire department, and a squad-car filled with highly trained SWAT law officers. 

Like actors in a poorly scripted play, his uninvited guests would enter through the unlocked door and repeated the exact same performance: Surprise. Terror. A blank look. Multiple deep bows requesting forgiveness for having needlessly disturbed the four-eyed reptilian horror staring down at them. And the swiftest departure a strict interpretation of Japanese decorum and propriety would allow.

Okay, to be perfectly honest, the policemen had thrown both decorum and propriety to the four winds the second they closed the door behind them. 

Forsaking the elevator as being far too slow for their current needs, they'd raced each other down several flights of stairs and returned to the cruiser as fast as their feet could carry them.

If their siren-blaring patrol vehicle was still maintaining the same tire-burning velocity it'd departed the parking lot, and if it had somehow gained the ability to travel over water, the blue uniformed protectors of the peace should be half-way to Australia by now. 

Exactly when and how his final visitors had been exposed to Yamaki's out of control digital virus remained unclear, but evidence of its work was unmistakable.

To promote its efficient spread amongst its intended targets, the digimon, Yamaki had designed his virus to cloud its victim's mind the instant it was uploaded.

Only after the infected digimon was no longer able to perceive any change in itself, or others of its own kind, would his digimon eradicator, the Final Solution, get down to the serious business of destroying the incredibly complex protein-mimicking computer data making up their digitized bodies. 

If his creation had proceeded to function and reproduce as Yamaki had envisioned, every last one of the artificial intelligence horrors that threatened human life would've died never knowing who, or what, had destroyed them.

Once again, as he had done so many times in the past, he'd rushed his plans forward to destroy any trace of the unnatural creatures he considered a threat to humanity without considering the possible dire ramifications of his actions. In this particular instance, he had failed to consider what might happen if his digital virus somehow came into contact with human genetic material and mutated unpredictably. 

Damaged and spreading rapidly, his viral masterpiece was still valiantly attempting to follow its programming. As per Yamaki's design specifications, it was still masking its presence within the mind of its victims, namely every human it was genetically altering, but instead of destroying computer code that'd somehow managed to assume a physical reality in the Real World, it was converting humans into something that belonged in the Digital World. (Yamaki was ignorant of those beside himself who were fully aware of their changes such as the Wongs.)

This explained why, except for the briefest moment, none of his swiftest departing visitors seemed particularly surprised to find one of Godzilla's uglier relatives inhabiting a high-priced apartment in the heart of downtown Tokyo.

A single glace at Yamaki's semi-digivolved draconian body was all it took for the virally re-wired pathways of their brains to accept his appearance as normal.

Odd looking or not, the creature before them was nothing more than the legitimate occupant of this apartment and they had no right to disturb him. Besides, how would it look on their service records if they got turned into sushi because they needlessly bothered someone with a power level many times higher than their own?

While it might be a considerable amount of time before their infected human bodies showed signs of digimon physical attributes, like countless others in the city their minds were well along the path in that direction. 

Fortunately, for them, the huge winged man carefully tapping his claws upon the delicate laptop keyboard barely noticed their comings and goings. His mind was on other matters.

Like they'd done so many times in the past, his so-called superiors had flooded his In-Box with an endless stream of thinly veiled threats. Once again they were demanding status reports on the working condition of the Hypnos building, its personnel, and project Final Solution. 

It never changed. His faceless quasi-government agency backers were screaming for minute by minute appraisals of his progress, while simultaneously threatening to collectively disavow any knowledge of his activities if he were ever discovered.

"You'd think they would've figured where I'd like them to put those reports by now." the digital dragon man growled angrily to himself. 

Despite all evidence to the contrary, facets of Yamaki's human personality were still going strong beneath all those scales and spines. Unfortunately, they weren't his better ones.

Towards the end, their more recent messages revolved around three points: Where the heck had he, Riley and Trilly disappeared to? 

As he done since the beginning, Yamaki decided the too much information would be unproductive. As all good program directors have done since time began, he decided his employers would benefit most from a little bit of creative fiction. There was no telling how they might react if they learned the true extent of the disaster he'd unleashed or poor Trilly's tragic end. 

It took but a few minutes to throw some half-truths, exaggerations, and downright lies, into a message that would buy him time to proceed with his own plans unencumbered by their constant interference. 

Just before hitting SEND with a claw tip almost as large as the key itself, he paused momentarily to reflect upon the strange events unfolding around him, and to examine the demonic image staring back at him from the tiny reflective screen.

It took all his considerable willpower to deny himself the satisfaction of smashing the computer screen into a million pieces. The same force of will that had, so far, kept him from being crushed out of existence by the alien instincts and sensations assaulting his human personality. 

No one had to tell him how poor 'the odds' against him were. He knew the battle was not over by any means. The enemy within his mind could breach his defenses at any moment and assume control. All it would take was a momentary lapse of concentration and he, Yamaki, would be gone forever. All that would be left would be . . . it. How long his human personality would remain in the driver's seat was an open question.

His 'mate' on the other hand... as his Digimon side insisted on referring to Riley... or 'Rileymon' as she insisted upon being called... hadn't been as fortunate. Not by a long shot.

Riley's transformation, in mind and body, was nearing completion. Although she had yet to drop upon all fours, it was only a matter of time before she became a digimon in mind as well as body. 

For now, Riley was still clearly aware of her role in Hypnos and Project Final Solution: that she'd worked by Yamaki's side for years to keep digital monsters from breaking into the Real World, and, whenever possible, help him find ways to get rid of them if they got through their firewalls. 

But now she considered herself one of... them. Only her twisted memories of being born in the human world justified her attempts to keep her digital brethren out. All the horrible things she'd helped Yamaki do didn't apply to her. Did they?

"At least one good thing has come of my blunder." Yamaki said to himself in grime amusement. "It has been a long time since I had a girlfriend much less a lover."

Although 'Rileymon' still considered herself part of human society, perhaps her emerging digimon instincts were simply allowing her true feeling for him to be expressed openly. Or, more likely, she was just acting like an animal seeking the companionship of the nearest available stud. 

Notwithstanding Yamaki's own little 'problem', his already low regard for digimon as sentient beings deserving respect and understanding hadn't gone up even one notch.

His dark brooding came to an abrupt halt when yet another visitor crossed his threshold, this one called out his name.

"Yamakimon-chan are you still here? I've got groceries and those onion bagels you like, but you'll have to help me put everything away first." 

When she didn't get an answer, Rileymon dropped the bags in the kitchen before using her sense of smell to find him. Not that it was really all that hard to miss a giant red-eyed black-scaled dragon that could lift her with one claw.

"Well?" She said swinging her flame tipped tail in annoyance as four crimson eyes shifted in her direction.

"Are you going to help me or not?

* * * * *

"West Nasugi District!" A recorded voice announced over the ear perching sound of steel train wheels grinding to a halt only to repeat itself a few seconds later in a less formal tone.

"We are now at the West Nasugi District." 

Jeri composed herself and walked down the aisle of the train car with the living mass of humanity beginning its exodus from the subterranean transport system as the floodgates opened.

That composure did nothing to deflect her collisions with people bent on escaping or entering the sardine car on wheels. 

Twice, someone bumped into her hard enough to cause her tail to fall out of its hiding place. She'd quickly re-wrap it about her waist and under the protective cloth of her tattered dress.

As she prepared herself for pointing fingers and the word 'Monster!" to be screamed at her tail became exposed for the third time, the commuting horde dropped in numbers from hellishly claustrophobia inducing down to just plain crowded.

The closed in spaces had made an alien part of Jeri uncomfortable, it was almost painful to be surrounded by so many Ôforeign' non-digital life forms, it had made the girl feel even more pressed and closed in then she actually was. 

Only seconds away getting knocked down and turned into a welcome mat, Jeri joined the stampede exiting the train car and stepped onto the loading platform.

Not a moment too soon. The doors slid shut behind her and the train departed filled with yet another cargo of two-legged sardines. 

Following the red arrow signs pointing the way, she soon came to a large open stairway that led to the street above and open air. 

Feeling like the weight of the entire planet was about to crash down upon her, she sprinted up the stairs taking four steps with each effortless bound.

Now that she thought about it, she'd spent far too much of this day underground. A part of her didn't like that. Correction, everything from the tip of her nose to the tip of her tail hated it beyond words. 

Not unlike the tale of the camel and the straw, she felt like spending even one more second underground would be enough to break this 'cat's' back. 

She'd had better times.

The list of her troubles was a lengthy one: 

She had been infected by a never before seen affliction that seemed determined to turn her into a creature that belonged in a child's video game.

Her personality had for a short time been rewritten with that of a ruthless semi-schizophrenic.

She'd been attacked by a demon and received a painful bruise on her leg from a bunny/dog trying to bring her mind back to the here-and-now after it'd gone bye-bye.

Many of her schoolmates looked like novelty items that should be sharing shelf space with teddy bears in a Toys R Us. 

Her best friend had turned into a red-scaled dinosaur extra large clone of his digimon buddy, Guilmon. And, what's worse, his mind had been fried to the point where he wanted 'her' to be 'his' tamer. 

And to round it off what should've been a joyous holiday filled month, she'd been mobbed twice, beaten up, hiked through a disease filled sewer, stolen a bike, met and been healed by a very nice old woman, and cheated on train fare.

Yeah, it'd been one heck of week.

Even as she enjoyed what passed for fresh air in crowded Tokyo, she planned her next move.

It was extremely unlikely that her crime wave would continue undiscovered. She doubted if she'd be able to pull off the ticket trick twice in a row. Not that it mattered; she could always get some spare cash from her room when she got home.

Oh, boy! Home! Considering that she hadn't been home since yesterday morning, her family had to be worried sick about her. They'd probably called every police station, hospital, and morgue in the city looking for her. 

At this point Jeri couldn't even imagine what kind of reception she was in for. Would her folks be mad at her for making them worry needlessly? Would they drop her off at the nearest zoo when they saw what she was turning into? Or, worse case scenario, would they look even worse that the strange digital creatures Takato used to draw while he should've been paying attention in class?

Strangely enough, even as these thoughts crossed her mind, she felt the urgent need to be near Takato. A feeling that said something was very wrong because they weren't together.

"That's just peachy!" Jeri thought as she touched the Digivice clipped to her dress.

"What's next? Prowling the streets looking for other digimon to battle? Swiping cards and making melodramatic body gestures with this thing? Or do I make him fight until he mutates into something even weirder looking?" 

Jeri then remembered she already had. The battle with Hadesmon. Her card slash that saved Takato his changed into Growlmon. Weather she was part digimon now or not. Lee was right. She was a Tamer now. 

Shaking her head as if it would scare away the uncomfortable thoughts, Jeri took comfort in her surroundings. 

It felt great to be back in her neighborhood after the trials and tribulations of the last two days. The setting sun warmed her back as she left the sidewalk and slowly approached her doorstep. 

None of the living places she'd ever visited had brought the words 'home' and 'normal' to her lips.

No doubt about it. Jeri was certain her home was synonymous with all that was good and true in the entire universe. While she might likely concede that other people probably though likewise if pushed, she still cherished the childlike belief that assured her that her home and family were the best ones that'd ever existed.

In contrast to all of her friends, only hers fit the description of stereotypical 'nuclear family' right down to the last letter. 

Takato's home, for example, was the back of his family's bakery. Lee's tiny apartment, on the other hand, was so well hidden in a condo building so vast you'd need a bloodhound to find his front door. 

And let's not forget that movie set Rika called home. In this modern high-speed computer age, how many people still bounced around a vast museum piece of architecture that was probably old before World War One started? 

In much the same way Jeri thought of herself, her family's home was unexceptional to the nth degree: Two stories. Indeterminate style. Cream colored. Tastefully landscaped, nothing within or without even remotely fancy or remarkable. Simple. Average. Safe. 

As she approached the front porch, the boards creaked with age and she made a fist. It was now or never. If she knocked on the door anything might happen and she briefly toyed with the idea of running away. 

Things didn't look good.

She was a kid. She had cut school twice. She hadn't gone home since the night before last. Could it be any more normal for her to want to postpone a justly deserved punishment for even a few minutes longer? 

Dropping her hand by her side, she hung her head in thought. Her options were quite limited.

Running away was out. She'd learned long ago that delaying the inevitable never solved anything. Yet, almost as bad was how she imagined her parent freak out when they became aware of her present 'condition'. Just the thought brought shivers down her spine that reached the tip of her hidden tail.

Just then Jeri remembered the window in her room. The lock was broken, so she could easily slip inside unseen by her family. Jeri vowed to make contact with them soon, but that moment was definitely not right now. 

That's it. The plan is set. Sneak in. Check on everyone. Get some funds. Change her clothes. Get back to the park as fast as possible. 

With an ease that should've set warning bells off in her mind, Jeri dropped to all fours and crept with her belly only inches above the freshly mowed grass. Getting spotted by someone who just happened to look out a ground floor window wouldn't be good.

Oops! Problem number one: Her room was on the second floor! 

Even as she examined the plastic drainpipe that ran down the corner of the house next to her window, the parts of her brain responsible for common sense began to protest.

_Don't even think about it!_ a little voice in the back of her head screamed. _Do you have any idea how much it's gonna hurt when that thing breaks and you fall all the way down!_

_Ugh! Now I'm hearing voices! And people said Takato's imagination was out of control!_ Jeri thought to herself as she looked around for a less hazardous entry.

Steeling herself, and trying to picture she was just using a jungle gym at school, Jeri began to climb up the side of her house at the corner. With each inch upwards she had to fight the urge to unravel her tail for balance. 

After yet another internal debate that swiftly ended when she realized a girl climbing up the outside of a house would get loads of attention regardless of waving a tail around or not, she uncurled the fur tipped appendage to do its thing while she concentrated on the task at hand. 

_So far, so good._ She thought as she neared her bedroom window. 

From the sidewalk, this part of the house was relatively hard to view. From the inside it was next to impossible, but her weight was making the wooden siding creak alarmingly loud. Several times she was forced to freeze as the sounds of heavy footsteps approaching her position came through the wall. 

"Almost there." She spoke softly to herself as she got closer to her goal. 

Only a few more yards and the roof's edge would be in range. Once she climbed onto its shingled surface, it would be child's play to walk to her window and jimmy the broken lock open.

Total focused on finding safe hand and foot holds, she inched upwards thinking how much like a cat she had become. 

Almost within reach of the edge, her mind thought back on happier days when she'd sneak out of her window to lay on the roof and stargaze for hours. 

How that used to annoy her father and stepmother. 

"You're gonna fall off that roof and break your neck one of these days, young lady!" They'd say whenever they heard her up there. 

Like a circus performer making ready to leap into empty air and grab the swinging trapeze bar, Jeri released both hands and grabbed the edge of the sliding angle roof. With an athletic agility she'd never even imagined possessing, she spun up and landed standing upright on the weathered wooden shingles.

At last on a stable surface, she dropped again to all fours and sped towards her window forgetting in her haste to listen for others. 

It took but a couple of seconds to force the window open and jump atop undisturbed bed inside.

She was in heaven.

With a soft purr escaping her lips, she rolled around and around on the soft covers. _It_'_s not like they_'_re going to come in here anytime soon_.She thought to herself. _I_'_m sure I can lay here for a minute, yes, just a minute . . ._ Lost in the joy of the moment; she was unpleasantly forced back to reality when her door creaked open.

Someone was coming in!

_I must've made too much noise landing on the roof!_ Jeri nearly screamed in panic as she scrambled to her feet and looked for a place to hide. 

"Juri?" a young voice queried, "Mom! Dad! Come quick! Juri's home!" 

In a single bound, Jeri leaped completely across the room and tackled her brother, Max, as he entered. Too late, even if the hand she'd clamped over his mouth kept him from shouting again, the damage was already done. 

Her father and her stepmother, (she refused to refer to them as her 'parents') had heard him, and now she could hear their footsteps coming up the staircase.

_Oh, well._ She thought. _So much for just checking things out and taking off without being noticed._

All the while Max continued to struggle like a lamb pinned by a hungry lioness, and with just the same chance of escape. When, suddenly, a sharp pain flew up Jeri's spine and she nearly released him. 

The little monster had yanked on her tail! 

"Masahiko!" She snarled while forcing his fingers away from the injured appendage. As she checked every inch for breakage, she reflected on the nature of animal tails and little boys.

No wonder NONE of the neighborhood cats would come near him. 

"Your tail is so cool Jeri! Can I have one too? Did you hear? Joe's big sister has one. I saw it before she left for school, but it isn't anywhere near as cool as yours. Where'd you get it? Was it from the same place Joe's big sister got hers?"

As Jeri ignored his high-speed babble, Jeri recalled that Max's friend Joe lived next door and his sister attended the same school as Takato, Lee, and herself. 

If Max was jealous of Jeri's tail, he was sure to go nuclear when Joe got his. Although, at this rate, it wouldn't be long before Max jointed the club.

As the uncomfortable thought crossed her mind, she heard Max say, "Mom's in the kitchen. She's been _really_ worried about you. What do you think we'll have for dinner? Do you know you look different? Why do you look different? Why are you wearing bandages?"

Food. Jeri barely heard a single thing after he mentioned that word, and her belly gave out a growl loud enough to make her blush with embarrassment. 

The footsteps were still getting closer. Now she could hear mumbling too. Or was it her stomach? To her evolving sense of hearing, both sounded equally loud.

Nope. The sounds were definitely coming from outside. It couldn't be much more than a couple seconds before her room received more unwelcome visitors. 

Leaping off of Max's body; she stood upright and faced the door. It would not be long now. Her sudden departure off his chest didn't even slow Max down.

"So where have you been anyway? Wasn't it cold at night? You have a comfortable bed, but mine's better!" Max droned on endlessly while still flat on his back.

Jeri wondered if Max was ever going to learn what a period was for. She already knew for long experience that he could talk for hours on a single breath.

Torn between facing the music, getting feed, or simply abandoning ship and jumping out the window, Jeri stood there drowning under her little brother's flood of words.

"Mom and Dad were gonna buy me a new bed. I didn't want to, but you know, I thought I might be cool. So I.." _Bed!_

"That's it!" Jeri yelled. With a strength far beyond what a child her size should have, she lifted Max to his feet with one hand as if he were weightless. A second later a backhanded slap of her other hand sent him crashing down upon his butt. 

Stunned by her sudden burst of violence, Jeri stood in shock as Max did something sure to weigh on her conscience for many years to come: He started to cry.

_Not the best idea I've ever had. _Jeri thought as she clenched her teeth. 

The footsteps were clomping down the hallway even faster now. They'd be at the door in another heartbeat.

Realizing it was far too late to run; Jeri came close to running in circles. Talking her way out of THIS one was definitely a lost cause. After all she'd been through, after all the awful things she felt bad about doing, hitting her younger brother was the worst.

Hoping to delay the inevitable if only for a few seconds more, Jeri ducked into her closet and crouched behind the door as she it slammed shut. Jeri had used up her optimism. Closing her eyes, she knew they would find her.

A moment later she heard the bedroom door open and two voices begin to comfort her bawling younger sibling.

This was it. Any second now two creatures belonging in a Saturday morning cartoon would open the door and ask why she beat up her brother. 

What would they look like?

Takato's artistic imagination at its best . . . the Takato of old that is . . . never came within light years of conjuring up creatures as horrifying as those crossing Jeri's mind at that very moment. 

On occasion, when he was too busy to even notice her presence; Jeri would look over Takato's shoulder as he played with Kenta and Kazu in the playground. A few of the creatures depicted on his Digimon cards were stunningly beautiful. Many were just plain cute. Most were neither. 

Any moment now, the closet door would open and pair of stomach churning monsters from the depth of her worst nightmares was going to call her daughter!

The moment came.

"Jeri! I'm so disappointed in you! Running away, ditching school, disappearing for days . . . "Her father started shouting. 

Jeri kept her head bowed. Partially out of an ingrained sense of respect for her elders, and partially for fear she'd throw up if she looked up and saw what her parents had mutated into.

"... And not only do you sneak into the house without a single word, you hurt your brother too!" Jeri's father continued to yell. 

"Well young lady?" her stepmother demanded when her husband paused for breath, "What have you got to say for yourself?" 

_It's now or never!_ Jeri thought.

It took most of the strength left in her body to lift her head up. What little remained she used to open her eyes. 

Each eyelid felt like it weighted a ton, but finally she managed to look at them both. The weight vanished instantly and a smile grew in its place. 

Leaping to her feet, she threw herself into her father's arms and hugged him.

They haven't been infected! Somehow, despite what Max had said about wanting to grow a tail like many of her friends and classmates had, her parents hadn't been infected. 

Jeri's father was extremely confused.

His daughter had never behaved like this before. True, she had yet to accept her new stepmother into their home, but that was perfectly normal in a child her age. What else was going on that he didn't know about? Why was she hugging him like she hadn't seen him in years? 

"Daddy! Daddy! Daddy!" Jeri yipped in joy as her hug grew more intense. 

_Strong kid!_ Her father thought as he struggled to breath. _She must've gotten it from my side of the family!_

As her father watched, Jeri mimicked the presence of her beloved sock puppet by opening and closing her fingers. Not even attempting to conceal her moving lips she said.

"Juri is happy to see you Daddy! Yes she is!" 

It felt both strange and good to fall back into her old antics, despite the fact that lions are cats and not dogs, her tail wagged wildly behind he in response to her growing joy.

Another oops!

Already caught off-guard by her bizarre changes in behavior, her father's shock increased to heart-stopping proportions when he saw the feline tail sticking out of his daughter's skirt.

Forget the sad state of the green dress he'd bought her only last month. Disregard the bandages he could see through the holes in her blouse and on her arms and legs. And where was that terrible smell coming from? Had the septic system backed up again?

All these thoughts paled to insignificance as Jeri's father looked down at the only part of his daughter's body that didn't seemed burnt, scrapped, or bandaged: a long lion's tail with a tuff of tawny beige fur on the end. 

For a moment he'd thought that Juri had brought a cat home, but no house cat had ever grown a tail that long. From the way it was moving, it was clear that this was no cheap dime-store novelty item attached to her dress. This 'thing' was alive!

He exclaimed. "What the heck is that?!"

Every other question he had about her sudden change in behavior faded away. His racing mind could only focus on the bestial appendage seemingly growing out of his daughter's rear end.

Jeri released her dad and tried to hide it. No such luck. Pun or not, this particular cat was out of the bag.

At this point Jeri's mind had also shifted into overdrive. 

_What do I tell him?_ She thought. _I can't lie to him! Even a blind man can tell it's not attached to my dress, and that expression of his tells me he knows it's not something I bought in a costume store._

"Its..." She began, but nothing else came out of her mouth. For the life of her, she couldn't even think of a fib that would fool even Max. Besides, lying had never been her specialty "... my tail." 

"Your tail? Young lady, you're not an animal." Her stepmother fretted. "Now remove that thing!"

"I... can't."

"You can't huh? Well, let's just see if I can!" 

Her stepmother quickly slid behind her and yanked Jeri's tail. The girl felt an intense wave of pain shoot into her brain. Jeri shrieked and tried to escape. It was no use, of course. After all, her stepmother had her by an extension of her very spine.

"Why... won't this thing come off?" She gave it another good yank. 

"STOP!!" Juri howled in a voice more animal roar than human speech. 

Not even consciously commanding them to do so, Jeri unsheathed her claws and attacked her stepmother. Everything seemed to go in slow motion. From start to end the event took but a fraction of a second, but it felt much longer. 

Her stepmother screamed in pain and fell to the floor with deep scratches on her face. Only her greater height in comparison to Jeri kept the wounds from being much, much worse.

Jeri's father quickly came to her aid, and Max stood silently too stunned to do much of anything except sniffle. In any case, Jeri ran to her window and dove out into the growing twilight. She hit the ground with a jarring impact but nothing seemed to break. The same couldn't be said about her heart. 

Deep in the furthest recesses of her mind, Juri felt a dark part of herself come alive and wish that her family would transform into horrible looking digimon. Maybe then they'd have some idea of what she'd been going through.

"No! Don't even think that!" Jeri screamed at herself as the digivice clasped to her dress began to glow unnoticed. She'd done enough damage for one day. It was time to get back to the others before something worse happened.

And something worse was almost here.

Jeri looked down and noticed how the screen on her digivice was pulsing. It was obviously only seconds away from having accumulated enough energy to do... what?

Damn! Her wish!

Not that! She didn't want that! Anything but that! 

Had she stopped it in time? Jeri didn't know. Just as her father had done so often with his television remote control, her pressing of all the buttons at once seemed to confuse the device and, hopefully, stopped it from functioning.

At least there hadn't been a repetition of the blinding flash of light that'd condemned Agouti and her cohorts to mindless digimonhood. 

She didn't care what happened to herself, but Jeri could never wanted what happened to Takato, Kenta, Kazu, and Takato's parents, to happen to her family too. Just the thought of anything bad happening to Rika's kind old grandmother made her feel like throwing up. 

What awful thing had she just done?!

Furious with herself, Jeri looked for an outlet for her rage. What better target than the thing that'd caused this mess, her tail? 

Knowing full well that she'd probably paralyze herself from the waist down for life, she grabbed her tail in both clawed hands and prepared to yank with every ounce of her considerable strength. 

The outcome would be anything but a pretty sight. 

Only one savage pull away from ripping the lion's tail off her body, Jeri returned to her senses.

Not only would she likely die of shock and blood lose, she'd only hurt her family even more than she'd probably already done. 

Jeri looked at her claws and screamed. "I don't want this to happen to anyone else! Ever!"

How anyone could be stupid enough to write stories about people becoming other creatures, and enjoying it, escaped her. How could there be such fools in the world?

It was obvious the misguided idiots who wrote that trash had no idea of the true extent of the horror hiding within their 'fun'. Transforming into someone... something... else should never be taken lightly. Not even in fiction.

Jeri looked up at her window and yelled, "I'm sorry!" And raced away like mad.

Could anything else go wrong?

As she retraced her steps to the subway, the thought occurred to her that 'it' already had: she was still broke. She didn't have a single Yen to her name.

How was she going to pay the fare? Considering how her luck had been running as of late, it was doubtful she'd be able to pull off the same ticket trick again.

Without the money she had hidden away from Max's candy loving sticky fingers, there was no way she'd get back to the park before midnight. 

As she continued running, tears began to flow down her checks. Stronger than ever before, the urgent 'need' to be near Takato was becoming an actual physical pain only his presence could cure. 

"Yes, that's it!" Jeri thought as she quickened her pace. All would be right with the world if only she could only see his google-head's goofy smile again.

Jeri's rapid pace quickly turned into a breathless run. 

Her body told her to stop. Enough was enough. It couldn't take much more of this none-stop abuse. But her mind wasn't listening. At that moment it was miles away happily hugging a pint-sized red-scaled dinosaur. 

As her speed increased even more, the tail she'd almost torn out of her body escaped its confinement and wagged rapidly behind her. 

If only her continuing thoughts looked as happy as it did. 

"What if I infected them? What if my family turns into things even worse than Agouti? What if poor Max gets his wish for a tail granted, but only at the cost of his mind?"

Blind to her surroundings, Jeri crossed the busy street outside the train terminal and almost plowed into the side of a car. The driver rewarded her inattention with a stream of Japanese curses that didn't need subtitles to be clearly understood.

Jeri didn't hear a single word. She was already deep inside the entrance of the underground train station and only a few dozen steps away for the loading platform. If her poor body didn't die of a heart attack before then, she should be boarding a train in less than a minute. 

"Oh boy! Not him again!" Jeri nearly yelled out loud when she saw who was waiting for her besides the open train door. 

The pay rail barely slowed her down. She twisted her slim body past the guardrail without even touching the metal bar. 

The late evening crowd of subway commuters had slowed her down even less. She ran through the people moving towards their trains as if they'd been standing still.

But Ôhim' was something she couldn't avoid. 

Standing in line one more, she awaited to present her 'ticket' again. It'd probably been a long day for him too. Maybe he'd be more interested in going home that checking that her ticket was valid, this train attendant. 

As before, she reached into her dress pocket and pulled out the expired stub. Holding it firmly within her fingers, she left only a small portion open for inspection as she walked into the train car. 

"Have a nice day...Ó

Busted!

ÒWait! You! Little girl! Come back here." 

Jeri's blood turned to ice in her veins. 

"This ticket has a gold sticker. That's in the afternoon. For commutes after six PM, we use blue stickers. Hand me your ticket, please." The man demanded in firm, but take-no-nonsense-from-anyone tone. 

Jeri was terrified. If she were caught and examined closely, there'd be no way to conceal her 'condition'. Her friends in the park would lose the one person amongst them that could walk semi-freely around the city. Her freedom was not only important to herself, but, quite possibly, was the sole factor that insured her classmates' survival.

_Okay, yet another bad idea. Deal with it maturely and calmly, Jeri. _

She dropped her stub and ran off.

The ticket man considered going after her, but it had indeed been a long day. He'd already pulled two extra shifts because of people calling in sick, and he simply didn't care to waste the energy chasing after yet another kid trying to sneak a free ride for the little the train company paid him.

Even if by some miracle he managed to catch her, his superiors would still yell at him for abandoning his post without permission. And, from the sad condition of that child's clothing, it was extremely doubtful she had enough money to pay for a ticket anyway. Why bother? 

Meanwhile, almost on the other end of the station, Jeri was coming to realize that she'd just done the second stupidest thing in as many days. Number one on the I'm-an-idiot list had been when she'd tried to tackle Hadesmon.

At least the gym coach wouldn't be annoyed by her barely average performance on the track anymore. With all the practice she'd been getting lately, she was bound to win a couple dozen trophies for the school's award case. 

Heart pounding like it was getting ready to explode; she came to a sudden stop. She really had no choice. There was nowhere else to go. She'd reached the end of the block long platform and the head of the train she had attempted to board without paying.

As she tried to plan yet another course of action, the train started moving. Gathering speed quickly, it would be gone in a few seconds. 

Just then Jeri remembered a movie her dad and step-mom had rented and brought home one night. It'd been far too violent for her taste, but she vividly remembered some of the special effects and stunts that made the movie famous.

It was an action film imported from the United States, and it revolved about two guys traveling across the country by whatever means they could find. At one point in the movie, the pair had jumped onto the roof of a moving train.

_That's it. I've lost it!_ Jeri thought as she tensed her leg muscles and crouched down.

As the last car entered the subway tunnel, Jeri leaped and landed on the edge. Fearing she'd fall off the rounded surface, her claws left a series of deep scratches in the highly polished metal as she crawled higher while the tunnel's roof flashed less than a foot over her body. 

Just as she reached the top with, miraculously, no one seeing her, she remembered how the movie had turned out: one of the guys lost his head. 

Literally.

It was at this point that she had run back to her room crying. She'd vowed then never to sneak a peak at the 'adult-rated' movies her dad and stepmother watched late at night. And she'd kept that promise ever since. 

With that horrible image repeating in her mind, Jeri closed her eyes and flattened herself even further against the train car's roof as it accelerated. The ever growing wind tore at her already damaged clothing. Her tail wrapped around her body in a fear driven death grip. 

They came close, but her claws failed to pierce the aluminum sheeting. And it wasn't from lack of trying. Fearing she'd be torn off the roof and splattered like a bug against the tunnel walls, her claws did enough damage to keep the repair crew in charge of this particular train car busy for days buffing it out.

And still the car accelerated.

Not good.

Jeri opened her eyes in panic as she felt her claws slipping. There wasn't much time left before the inevitable happened. Looking for salvation, she found it only a few feet away: an escape hatch. 

Fighting against the wind, Jeri carefully inched forward. She almost didn't make it. Several times she actually felt her body begin to lift off. The same claws she'd cursed at when they'd first appeared saved her life each time.

Slowly, careful not to make too sudden a movement, she crawled up to the front of the subway car and grabbed the large metal handle sticking out of the escape hatch.

"YES!!" She screamed in joy. A second later she was close enough to throw both arms around it. She was safe. Not as safe as opening the hatch and getting inside maybe, but even the thought of letting go made her cringe. 

Even if she was crazy enough to attempt it, someone was sure to comment when she suddenly appeared inside. It would be better to stay out here where she wouldn't be noticed.

"I'll just stay up here. How long is this ride again?" She asked herself as she closed her eyes tightly as the minutes piled up. _Happy thoughts. Happy thoughts._ She repeated trying to concentrate on nothing but getting back to the park... to Takato... as soon as possible. 

It took a loooooong twenty-four minutes to get there. Unable to gauge the passage of time because of all the noise and bumping, it felt like twenty-four hours to her. Every so often she'd risk her composure by opening her eyes to look at the train car in front. Through its rear widow she could see a large digital clock showing the time and date. 

As the train slowed to make a sharp curve before arriving at its next stop, the red symbols on its face were flashing: 

Time: 1845 Hours:

Date: Wednesday December Third 2000:

Less than a minute after that, Jeri gave a loud sigh of relief as the brakes squealed and the train slowly came to a halt, her tail as relaxed as sponge. She screamed even louder when she saw her image reflecting back from the heavily scratched, but still quite shinny, metal she lay on.

After surviving the train trip to Hades, with nearly a half-hour of hurricane strength winds tearing through her scalp, she looked like one of the cheap dolls they gave away at carnivals!

_Man, I never thought I_'_d be glad to have these things!_ Jeri thought while combing her somewhat blunted claws through the tangled mess. 

Finishing her comb job she began to think of the most important feature of her growing plans: getting the heck off of this darn train!

Once again, as it had done several times before, an athletic ability and degree of strength she'd never known before came into play. 

Tensing her leg muscles in preparation, Jeri hardly found the distance and height she was planning to jump anything remarkable. Having lived through a couple two-story drops already, her subconscious had clear appreciation of her newfound athletic abilities and strength. 

In a single nearly effortless bound, she leaped off the roof and landed unhurt on the sparsely inhabited edge of the train platform's wall side. Only a handful of the tired commuters waiting to board noticed her unexpected passage over their heads. She was many yards away, and doubling the distance every second. By the time a few of those bothered to comment on the strange looking shadow they'd just seen, she was out of there.

Like a starving beggar invited to an all-you-can-eat feast, (and she certainly looked the part now) Jeri sped towards the subway exit and the open street above. Slowed by the stairs, people were beginning to turn their heads and give her strange looks.

It's not every day that a child wearing near-rags ran around prosperous Japan. And that went double for children running around with a loin's tail waging wildly behind them.

_Bad move number one million, two hundred thousand, and sixty-six! _Jeri thought as exhaustion slowed her progress to a fast walk. 

Despite instincts to the contrary, a better choice might've been to let it hang limp and risk getting it stepped on. With all of the crazy stuff Jeri knew kids in Japan were into today, a fashion accessory add-on that looked like a tail would probably go unnoticed. 

An instant later she canceled that thought. Recalling the agony she'd experienced when Miss Usagi, Max, and her stepmother had pulled on her tail, she quickly decided NOTHING in the universe was worth going through that again. However, something less drastic was definitely in order. What it was pushing out of place was driving her crazy. 

Safely out of view in an alley across the street, Jeri ducked behind a huge green trash dumpster and unsheathed one of her claws. After stropping it on the bin's steel walls a few times to restore the needle-sharp edge, she cut a hole in her panties large enough to pull her tail through. She hopped no one ever found out about this.

It felt so good not to have her under things being pushed out of place by the animal appendage. She'd remedied the problem, Jeri walked back onto the sidewalk.

She soon discovered her mistake. It hadn't been her tail that people had found disturbing. It was, in fact, the deplorable state of her clothing. To put it bluntly, her dress was totaled.

More tears than cloth, it was stained by every type of soil imaginable. And if it suffered even one more damaged stitch, she'd be running around in her birthday suit.

With all the bandages covering her arms and legs, she looked like a leper that'd escaped a history book. It was a miracle there wasn't a crowd of people following her yelling, 'Unclean! Unclean!', and throwing rocks at her.

Feeling like a naked animal put in a cage for display, she continued on her way as the sun set and the streets became less crowded. Making it a point not to get within a block of her school she reflected on how fast journey her journey could come to a swift end.

A single phone call and she'd be picked up by the police. Everything she'd gone through would've been in vein. Of all the dozens of people who watched her walk by, not a single one bothered to make that call. Nobody wanted to get involved.

Thank heavens for modern city life imported by western civilization.

Shivering slightly as dogs began to howl and a cold breeze cut through her damaged clothing, she reached the edge of the park as the first stars of the evening made their appearance. Ignoring what others, more superstitious others, might consider a bad omen, she ventured forth into the dark park in search of her friends.

* * * * *

Only a few hundred feet away, and suspended off the ground by his huge Lopmon ears, Lee was deep into a meditative state. Or, at least, he was doing his best to get there.

Despite appearances to the contrary, his thoughts were anything but tranquil. At that moment he and Yamaki were in complete agreement on one, and only one single fact. Something had to be done about the other digivolved child, and their tamed digimon, before they drove them both insane!

Case in point.

Lee's human body was gone. After much internal debate, and a lot of screaming, he'd come to accept the situation while maintaining the hope that a remedy could be found.

Until that moment came, he, Jenrya Lee (as his mother called him on occasion), or Lee H. Wong as everyone else including his American e-mails pen pals called him (they must have though he had gotten hit by a truck or something by now), would remain as he was. A brown furred, huge eared, three-horned, soccer ball size rabbit-dog Lopmon-clone of his digimon partner, Terriermon.

His mind was another matter altogether.

By every means he could imagine, Lee steadfastly refused to let the tattered shreds of his human personality fade away. This struggle had become a constant source of amusement to everyone around him. 

Case in point.

Looking as comical as Lee was trying to appear serious: Calumon, Takato, and Guilmon were sitting nearby doing their best to mimic his meditation exercises. They weren't even coming close. 

"How long are we supposed to stay like this?" Guilmon whined. Frankly, Lee was amazed he'd managed to convince the trio to try it at all. Gaining their cooperation hadn't been easy. Pushed to the breaking point by their dangerous antics, he'd finally lost his composure and gone postal. 

Fearing for his survival... and sure that getting caught up in one more wrestling match between relatively gigantic Takato and Guilmon would kill him... Lee managed to persuade the red-scaled dinosaurian duo to give meditation a try.

Using a fighting technique most digimon considered unfair, namely attacking without first calling out the combat move about to be deployed, he clobbered the

pair repeatedly with a strong tree branch. All it took was a few kenpo moves his Sensei had taught him to lay the pair prone upon the ground. 

Finishing his 'argument' in a way that his traditionally rigid elderly Sensei would've frowned upon, Lee then proceeded to jump up and down upon their rounded stomachs while yelling incoherently at the top of his miniscule lungs.

Instead of being scared or angry, everyone present looked at the madly screaming little digimon in clear amazement. Their faces were all saying the same thing: Teach me how to do that!

And none were more impressed than Guilmon and Takato. On their knees in tears, they begged him to teach them kenpo when he finally calmed down enough to use words again.

Even the fun-loving pacifist, Calumon, had gotten into the act. Not really knowing what he was getting into, but figured it had to be fun if Takato and Guilmon wanted to do it. Boy had he ever been wrong. 

Knowing better than to give the flame-throwing reptilian duo something they could use against him... and how incredibly disappointed his Sensei would be if he caught Lee teaching someone without adult supervision... he racked his brain for a solution. What could possibly distract them until Jeri returned? Surly he could think of something.

_Think? That_'_s it! Meditation! How much trouble could this pair of reptilian nitwits get into sitting on their tails anyway?_

****

**-Almost Two Hours Later-**

"I'm Lee. My thoughts are pure. I'm in harmony with the universe. The outside world doesn't exist. I will NOT hit Takato on the head if he tries to grab my stick again. My name is Lee H. Wong. I will NOT stab Guilmon in the gut with my stick if he tries to stand up again. Nothing can disturb my...

"Hey! There you are!"

Lee was shocked out of his state of peace and fell back, and over, and over again.

_Why? Can anyone tell me why I had to change into something with a head almost as big as the rest of its body?!_ Lee protested silently when he landed, quite painfully, on the stubby little tail poking out of his furry bottom.

No doubt about it. His new body was definitely top heavy. Once he got rolling he had a tendency to just keep on going. 

"Jeri!" The former human voiced getting his bearings. 

Except for a few moments of peace and quiet, and with Takato and Guilmon around those had been few and far between, he'd spent the day worrying about Jeri. And she shows up... when? Just seconds before he attains spiritual wholeness!

Fighting the urge to start swinging his stick again, he got straight to business with the question on everyone's mind, "What did you find?" 

"Jerimon!"

Before Jeri could reply to Lee's question, she was knocked to the ground by a scaly missile. A Jurassic weapon of mass destruction seemingly bent on licking her face raw with a sandpaper rough tongue. 

"Where were you all this time, Jerimon? I missed you. Did you miss Takatomon? Did you bring Takatomon any food?" 

At that moment Jeri had a question of her own: Had Takato... the Takato of old that is... not the scaly monster crushing her lungs flat right now... gone through the same thing with Guilmon? 

If so, all the human mothers in the world were indeed fortunate that dinosaurs had gone extinct sixty five million years before little boys could drag one home. They made lousy house pets. 

Too tired to even attempt to move Takato by brute force, Jeri decided a less physically demanding tactic was in order. 

"I missed you too!" She crooned softly while trying to avoid his drool covered tongue. "But could you get off? I don't think my spine can take anymore punishment today!"

As if suddenly aware of what he'd been doing, Takatomon stopped and promptly got off. The remorseful look in his eyes nearly broke her heart. The last time she'd seen a look like that, it'd come from a misbehaving puppy caught in the act of peeing on a brand new living room carpet. 

"Sorry Tamer."

Jeri replied with an affectionate scratch behind one of his batwing ears and a sincere, "That's okay."

Panting in exhaustion, Lee was slowing down. In a futile attempt to draw Jeri's attention, he'd been doing jumping jacks and waving his short arms as soon as she stopped rolling.

He didn't deserve this! He was smart. He paid attention in school. Unlike a few people he could mention, he didn't waste his time playing the card game in the playground (the computer game was better) until he was late for class. He never got detention. 

Not only that, but he'd also spent the entire day taking care of two prehistoric micro brains with the attention spans of fruit flies without killing either one. _And, nothing personal Terriermon, I did all that while stuck in a useless Lopmon body that looks almost exactly like yours! _

Lee hadn't felt this helpless since he was Suzie's age! 

"Jeri! What did you find out? What are you so late? When did you get bandaged up?"

The urge to start swinging, and let the splinters fall where they may, was reaching critical mass when Jeri finally looked down... way down... and noticed his gymnastic antics.

"Jeri! What did you find out?... What are you so late?... When did you get bandaged up?" He asked in one breathless sentence fearing another big, red, and somewhat annoying, distraction could occur any second. 

"What didn't happen?" Jeri replied in an exasperated tone. 

Lifting her gaze for a moment, she glanced around the clearing looking for two of her fellow mutants. Despite the meager light provided by a few streetlights off in the distance, her superb vision failed to spot them.

"Where are Kazu and Kenta?"

Terriermon strode up besides Lee and crossed his arms. "What would the K-boys be doing here?"

"I asked them to check on Takato's family for me because mine is so out of the way. I was sure they were going to beat me here." 

Terriermon shook his head. His ears nearly knocked Lee down when they struck him in the face and behind his head.

"Nope. No sign of them. Knowing those two, they got struck by lightning or something similar... if we're lucky. But forget about them. Answer Leemonaid's question. What happened to you out there?" 

A second after the 'Leemonaid' crack, Lee was mentally patting himself on the back for having avoided the temptation to growl like a wild animal. A second later he was mentally kicking himself when he did it anyway. 

While Lee tried to stifle the sounds by the most direct means available, stuffing one of his yard-long ears completely into his mouth; Jeri had made a struggle with a problem of her own. She certainly didn't want to make her other plague victims feel anymore depressed than they already were. Of all the terrible things she'd seen today, what should she keep secret from them?

Her troubled thoughts were interrupted by something more familiar than even one of Terriermon's snide comments.

"Whose da new slavur?"

"Oh great! Impmon's awake!" Lee grumbled out loud and nearly gagged. Getting one of his ground-dragging ears out of his mouth was proving more difficult than getting in. Not to mention, it tasted awful! 

"Friend've one of yose . . ." The little purple devil looking at Jeri did a double-take. It wasn't enough. He did another. 

"Whoa! Wha' appened ta you? Yer digi-slave finally get smart an' rebel on ya?"

Jeri took one look at the little demon and the image of Hadesmon flashed in head. Letting loose a scream that scared lovers strolling through the park several blocks away, she kicked the midget dark digimon hard. 

He crashed onto his back only a few yards away. Sadly, Jeri was no Rika. Otherwise the little devil would've been traveling through the stratosphere. Instead he jumped to his three-clawed feet and pointed a gloved finger in anger at all of them, "What's with everyone gettin' their kicks off by kickin' ME??!!"

Jeri didn't hear a word he said. Her tail was sticking straight up in fear. Not knowing if she should attack again, or flee in panic, she stared down at the rookie digimon as if expecting him to attack and swallow her whole.

Lee's mouth was still too full to comment on the matter, so it fell to Terriermon, "Perhaps you haven't noticed, Impmon. You seem to have that affect on everyone you meet. Your rude manner make most people want to strangle or kick you. Personally, I go more for the former." 

" Uh Jerimon . . . are you okay?" Takato, the former human boy turned digital dino asked noticing how his Tamer's eyes were glued onto every move Impmon made. Jeri still looked ready for fight or flight at a moment's notice.

Lee too was assessing the scene spitting out the oversized earlobe. His conclusion: Maybe the fight with Hadesmon had left more than a few physical scars on Jeri's body. 

"Are you okay . . . ?"

Jeri quickly turned her head and glared at him. Lee knew that look. A line might have been crossed. A dangerous line. Stepping back in reflex part instinct, part prudent judgment, he tripped over one of his ears and fell flat onto his back. The unintentional comic brought a smile to her lips and her anger faded away.

"Oh, I'm sorry Lee." Jeri clasped her hands and melted back into her normally sweet, charming schoolgirl self. Lee, still unconsciously planning the fastest route of escape if the need arose, returned to the matter at hand.

"How'd it go out there?Ó

"Oh," Jeri hesitated, "Well, you might wanna sit down." 

"He is sitting down!" cracked Terriermon, "You just can't see Lee's tiny little legs."

"What's that supposed to mean!! We're exactly the same height, shorty!" Lee snapped. While the stress of things had NOT effected Lee's human ego, that HAD begun to erode on his patience. With no conscious thought of having reached for it, the stick he'd used to clobber Takato and Guilmon was back in his paw.

Knowing he might've crossed a line of his own, Terriermon back down as the two dinosaurs and one white plush toy gathered around to hear Jeri's news. 

"Well . . . " Jeri began.

Never one to give up his place in the spotlight without a fight, Impmon yelled; "Hey! What about me? Pay attention ta me!" 

Only Calumon bothered to look at him. The snub made Impmon even angrier. 

"Everyone except youse."

The child digimon had little . . . correction . . . make that zero concept of the term 'insult'. Grateful for the interest one of the older individuals present was giving him, he replied with a big smile on his face. 

"Wanna get some creampuffs?"

Stunned to the core of his rather overblown ego, Impmon did a typical anime-style 'thud-attack' on the ground. 

"Is all ya think about eatin' and playing?" 

Calumon's ears shrank into his head, as his eyes grew larger. " . . . You mean there's more to life than that?"

Impmon thudded again. Harder.

"WAAAGH what'd Ah ever do ta deserve dis! Ah'm gonna go find Toots. At least she's intelligent besides bein' better ta look at!" 

Followed by a gesture sure to stun all present with his maturity . . . he stuck out his tongue . . . he bounded into a tree and disappeared in search of Renamon. Even if she kicked him into low orbit, it would be better than being ignored by this bunch.

Calumon did not look happy.

"Why did he go like that? Renamon is better to look at? Does that mean I'm ugly?"

Terriermon said patting the little one on the shoulder. "No it doesn't mean you're ugly Calumon, trust me. Impmon's just being a jerk. Although I do agree with him that Renamon is good to look at." 

The dog/bunny grinned.

"Well . . . I don't see what the big deal is." 

"I'll explain it when you're older." Terriermon grinned even wider. For once in his life he was using a bit of tack. It wouldn't happen again anytime soon.

The entire interlude brought up a new problem Lee had neglected to think about. Would the 'animal instincts' basis of their minds, start making him, and Takato chase after Renamon, Rika, and Jeri? He shuddered at the thought. 

Shelving the problem for later review, Henry dismissed it. He and Takato, being preteens, were too young anyway. With the exceptions of Guilmon and Calumon, all the other digimon were probably far older than themselves. With the exception of Impmon, Calumon, and Terriermon on occasion, they acted far older too than Takato and himself.

Then again, who was he to judge maturity? Before this all started, he'd considered himself a person of dignified and refined morals. A person who was totally in control no mater the circumstances. 

Now, like the digimon he so closely resembled, Terriermon, he was ready to throw a flip remark, or jump into combat, at the drop of the proverbial hat. With a bit of luck, it was just a little residual data from his digital partner when the infection, or whatever, used his digital template to design Lee's Lopmon form.

Humans had long ago determined that personality was a combination of genetics and environment. But, did that apply to artificial computer beings like digimon? What was more important in determining digimon behavior: Type or species?

Even now, Lee had met only a handful of friendly digimon. Each was unique. Could 'all' Terriermons be smart mouthed naughty Vaccines? If any other Virus Guilmons existed, would they be as cute and loyal? 

And then there was Renamon.

Data types were normally assumed to have more of a choice, able to easily modify their actions depending on the winds of circumstance. Yet Renamon, more often than not, behaved like she was following a plan written in stone, and just as easily altered. All three digimon seemed to be contradictions to the stereotypes of Digimon 01 and 02. 

Lee sighed, it was getting late: Best to let Jeri give her report before dawn arrived.

Jeri's mind was likewise distracted. The day had thoroughly burned out what interest Impmon's presence would've otherwise generated. At least he was gone: one less burr to get stuck in her fur. 

But where the heck were Kazu and Kenta? Between the two of them they should've had enough brainpower . . . barely . . . to accomplish their mission. Had they been attack by wild digimon and downloaded or what? 

Jeri saw she was keeping her captive audience waiting and started again before another digimon popped up.

"First, I checked out your apartment, Lee." 

Lee had not expected to hear that. ÒWhat? But I told you to go to my place last!"

"I'm sorry it's just, I needed the time to find the courage to visit my own family. About your family Lee . . . "

The little Lopmon's eyes widened. His ears rose straight up as he prepared to hear the worst.

"Your family is infected. So far, only your little sister and mom, but the others might be too." She didn't know how to explain his father registering as a mega god-digimon and kept her mouth shut about it. 

The expression on Lee's face dropped. It was easy to tell that was not what he wanted to hear.

"What about my momon and dadmon?" Takatomon asked. "Do they know I'm okay?" Takatomon had long ago lost his grasp upon reality . . . the real world that is. As far as he knew, he, and his parents, had always been digimon. And 'infection' was just one of the big words he'd have to learn about in Digimon School.

"I gave that assignment to Kazu and Kenta to cut down on running time remember? Are you're sure they didn't come by and just chicken out?" Jeri remembered how Kazu and Kenta had begun to ditch Takato for scaring them with his 'stuffed animal' act.

"The ones who woke me up and ran away before we could play?" Guilmon piped in. "Guilmon haven't seen them all day." 

Jeri continued. "Rika's Grandmother is safe, but she told me her daughter had turned into some fox-type creature." 

She rubbed her bandages, remembering the kindness Rika's grandma had showed her.

"And what about your family, Jerimon?" Takatomon inquired. 

"My . . . family?"

Despite her poor, poor, reception, and even more disastrous departure, Jeri was still feeling guilty for the things she'd done. Her calm exterior was a lie. Worry was eating her insides like an acid. 

"They're . . . alright. None of them are infected. I hope they stay that way too."

"Good work, Jeri!" Lee forced a smile. "But what DID keep you all this time? Even with all that you should have been back sooner than this." 

Jeri knew there was no nice way to put this. "I got caught while at school and was forced to sit in through morning class."

That was right. She was supposed to check out their classmate's too. "Did anyone notice what happened to you?" 

"No, and they didn't notice what was happening to themselves either." 

"What?" Lee did NOT like that answer.

"Nearly everyone at school was changing. But almost no one seemed to notice. We'll, someone must have notice because a news crew showed up in class, and at lunch time men in space suits were containing everyone, all their stuff had four weird half circles on them."

Lee had seen enough science shows on television to know what that meant: the infamous biohazard sign. Touch anything with that mark and you're gonna die!

"You hear that Lee?" Terriermon chirped. "You missed your big chance to be on TV!"

Lee and Jeri shot daggers into the vaccine type with their eyes and with one voice snap. "Shut up Terriermon!"

Terriermon shut his mouth tightly. The odds were against it staying that way for long.

"How did you get away?"

"It was so chaotic no one noticed me bounding off a tree and over the wall. Or when I was savagely attacked by..."

"Hey! Hey hold up!" a familiar voice called out as if the group were running around instead of standing still in a circle. Dropping rapidly, the outline of a large bird was flying towards them. Wait a second! Birds don't usually fly that erratically, and they sure in heck don't have long scaly tails! Was it another evil digimon dragon planning to attack them? 

"We're here. Just hold on." The voice muttered out of breath. 

Everyone's attention turned to the approaching figure. Everyone did what they could to prepare for a likely battle. 

Jeri took out her D-Ark, and scanned the incoming being. Any information she could get before it got into attack range might be vital to their survival. 

Her eyes widened when the holo-display finally came into focus and identified their unknown 'attacker'.

She fell over laughing.

Takatomon, Guilmon, and Calumon wondered what the joke was, and why she hadn't shared it with them.

Terriermon and Lee feared the worst: Jeri's mind had cracked under the shock of what her D-Ark had shown her. That even now, only a few seconds away, an unstoppable evil ultra-powerful digimon coming their way. Death was only a few feet away!

The only thing that died was that theory. 

The UFD, Unidentified Flying Digimon, soon came into range of the light poles scattered throughout the park. Lee, followed shortly thereafter by everyone else, started to laugh too.

If not for Kazu's clothing... the other digimon wore nothing but nothing but brightly hued feathers... Lee would've had a terrible time identifying the armor-type reptilian digimon held within the bird's talons as Kazu. 

Thus, by process of elimination, the one flapping his wings like mad had to be Kenta. Or, at least it use to be Kenta. Physically there was nothing human left of the glass' boy.

They did not exactly make a perfect landing.

The bird lost its breath a few feet short of touching down and dropped his payload. Kazu landed on his rear with a loud 'thud' and ÒOuch!" 

_At least his tail hadn't snapped off with the impact. Even though lizards can grow those things back, that's gotta hurt!_ Lee thought as the lizard digimon jumped to his feet and swung his tail wildly from side to side. No damage done. _As good as new._

Kazu's relief was short lived. Kenta landed right on top of him with another 'thud' and an even louder ÒOuch!!Ó

"Watch it!" A voice that was still recognizably Kazu's yelled. 

"Sorry." The bird's large beak chirped and clicked in Kenta's voice. "And by the way, you DO weight that much." 

Someone present didn't need sight to know who they were. Smell was more than sufficient.

"Kazumon!! Kentamon!!"

Takatomon yelled as he rushed forward and crushed the two armor digimon in an overenthusiastic bear . . . dinosaur(?) . . . hug. 

"Takatomon glad to see you, Kazumon! Takatomon glad to see you, Kentamon! C'mon

lets play! Guilmon, Calumon and I bored to death all day waiting here with Leemon! He's being a sour puss!"

"Can't breath!" "Need air!" ÒHelp!Ó Kazu and Kenta pleaded in chorus. 

The red scaled dinosaur suddenly realized what he was doing. A small . . . a very small . . . part of his human memory recalled how much he'd disliked being turned into paste when Guilmon use to pounce and grab him. The shock of the repressed human memory made him relax his grip. 

"Oops! Sorry!" He apologized in his copy of Guilmon's voice when his two friends crashed onto the ground again.

Jeri put her hands on her hips and waited for the duo to pull themselves together before asking. "What kept you two? I was starting to think you'd forgotten we were supposed to meet back here when Lee said you hadn't made it yet."

"Actually," Kazu struggled to come up with a half decent lie. "See, bird boy here isn't such a great flyer. We got slowed down by turbulence . . . and . . . a pretty nasty headwind."

Even Terriermon had an anime sweat drop on his head. 

"You lie." Kenta clicked, "The truth is, carrying eighty-five pounds of lizard isn't exactly easy. Halfway to the park, we stopped for a rest and I . . . " Kenta blushed so heavily it was noticeable through his feathers. 

" . . . I kinda fell asleep in a tree."

"I tried to wake him up! Honest." Kazu proclaimed, "But, I . . ." 

"But I... what?" Jeri asked.

"There was a termite nest up there. Lizard lips stuffed his belly and fell asleep too." Kenta replied waving his wings and clapping his beak to indicate laughter.

"Okay. Well, now that you're here, tell us what you saw at Takato's bakery." Jeri commanded. Both boys shot straight up into a military style salute. Kazu started.

"Ma'am! Yes, ma'am. Takato's mom is a rather large, rather scary blue dragon, ma'am."

"So? From the way everyone is carrying on, you'd expect Kazu to say my mother turned into a hoomon or something. What else could my mother be but a blue dinosaur?" Takatomon thought. "But, wait! I'm forgetting someone! What about my Dadmon?!"

Kazu hopped to. "Unknown! Sir!"

"Knock it off, guys! This is serious!" Lee yelled as he hovered alongside Jeri's shoulder.

"Alright, fine. Mrs. Matsuda said Takato's dad wasn't home and . . . " 

Kazu was suddenly distracted by a large beetle flying past. In a blur of movement too fast for the naked eye to follow, his tongue shot out and returned. The beetle was gone. The only thing that escaped his wide reptilian mouth was a self-satisfied, ÒDelicious!" 

Only Jeri, Terriermon and Lee seemed to take notice. Everyone else, with the exception of Calumon who'd like to see him do it again, was acting as if what Kazu had just done was the most normal thing in the world. And to them, it was.

See food. Eat food. Was the second most important law in the Digital World. Trying your best to avoid becoming food was number one. 

"Kazu?" Lee asked as he dropped to the ground and walked closer. It wouldn't be a good idea to be mistaken for a large beetle about now. "You DO remember you're human don't you?"

"Of course I do!"

"Just checking. That beetle thingie threw me off." 

"A guys gotta eat." Kazu defended.

Lee sighed. Apparently whatever was mutating them knew other tactics besides direct physical assault. It could be subtle too. Kazu's insistence that all was 'normal' made Lee question his own memories. 

Not only had he just received the worst news imaginable . . . his family had been infected . . . he might not be as human as he'd thought. He would have to compare notes with Terriermon as soon as possible. Lee wasn't looking forward to the result of that conversation. 

Was there any hope left?

With his binocular eyes still scanning for dessert, Kazu asked, "Yo! Takato! Now that we've finished show and tell, you wouldn't happen to know how to change us back would ya?Ó

Both reptilians locked eyes. Not an easy task when Kazu's kept trying to look in two directions at once.

"Back from what?" Takatomon asked stupidly. 

"From this!" Kazu pointed at his scaly self. 

"Your shirt?"

"No stupid I meant..."

Jeri snapped. "Takato isn't stupid!"

"He's sure acting like it!" Kazu snapped back. "Can't fossil brain tell I'm only asking if he knew a way to change us back to normal?" 

Lee gestured for Jeri to pick him up. Feeling much like a rag doll in her clawed hands, he said, "Guys, I hate to tell you this. But Takato thinks he's been a digimon all his life."

"I haven't?" Takatomon replied totally confused. Even scratching his head with a claw didn't help.

Lee ignored him. "So he has no idea what you're talking about, Kazu." 

Jeri almost dropped Lee for talking about Takato as if he was an invalid who couldn't understand speech.

Kenta and Kazu's face took on the classic anime doom and gloom expression. 

"There goes our last hope." Kazu spoke grimly. 

"There goes our last hope." Kenta repeated just as grimly. 

The two boys hugged each other and began to cry hysterically. If he didn't break it up soon, Lee was certain they'd flood the park. 

Before he could move a muscle, -a 'tiny' muscle Lee thought grimly himself-, Kazu stopped crying. The grinding of mental gears in his head was almost audible. Stop the presses! Kazu had an idea! 

Kenta's glasses stopped producing salt water. It wasn't often . . . as in almost never . . . that he could recall seeing that sly look in his friend's eyes.

Wondering if the end of the world was about to be triggered, he joined the others as they silently watched Kazu waltz up to Takato and say; "Uh, Takato, er, mon. Do you remember all the blue and green pieces of paper I gave you? Do you know where they all are? Could I have them all back?" 

To everyone's surprise, Takato did not mindlessly obey Kazu's request. He actually seemed to be 'thinking' about it! 

"Kazumon! Of course I know where your card is! And it was only one! You gave what you laughingly call your 'best card' to me just before I started to digivolve. Since my cards aren't shuffled, it should still be at the bottom of my deck." 

Kazu's bug eyes bugged out.

"I keep it there so I won't accidentally draw it when battling. I'd hate to lose it after all the effort you've undergone to keep it away from your parents. And just because they think you're wasting valuable homework time playing digimon."

Kazu's bug eyes bugged out even more.

Jeri laughed. It felt like years since she'd done it last. She had to get back into the habit!

Lee was actually smiled too. Takato's brain was still cooking somewhere under all those scales. His mental 'eggs' may be momentarily 'scrabbled', but at least they were all still there!

"Uh okay." Said Kazu taken back. "Where's your deck?" 

Takatomon pointed at all that remained of his human clothing: a heap of rags. "And don't try taking more than what's yours. Mine have my scent all over 'em. Pull a fast one and you're gonna regret it!" 

"Hey!" Kazu protested but searched anyway. He soon found Takato's battle deck and what was left of his card. The operative word here is... left. 

Since his card had been at the bottom of the deck, and closest to Takato's body when he digivolved during a spectacular display of flaming data, Kazu's property had heroically sacrificed itself to protect the other cards from incineration. All that remained of his precious card was a tiny pile of ash and a few shred of charred cardboard.

"Clockmon!" Kazu started to cry again to mourn his departed card. 

Kenta comforted his friend. "Come on Kazu, let's give it a proper burial." 

"No!" He held the ashes in his sticky hands. "He can't be gone!" 

"Life goes on man! We have to think about the living right now!" 

"Clockmon! How can I go on without you?!" 

Kenta slapped him. "Come on man! Face it like a man! Come on . . . I'll help you dig the grave."

Kazu sniffed as Kenta lead him behind the remains of Guilmon's lair to give the card a decent fair well.

Every single semi-human and digimon just stared unbelieving as the pair went out of sight to do their work.

They wouldn't have noticed if Omnimon himself had flown overhead and said hello.

Terrerimon could only think of one thing to say. "Man." 

Lee breathed out. He didn't care if he sounded like Rika. "Pathetic." He said under his breath.

"That reminds me." Takatomon said looking down surprisingly at Lee. "Your deck has Rikamon's scent all over it."

"Huh?!" Said Lee in surprise and alarm.

He raced over to his pile of clothes and began to dig. He soon found his deck and checked for each card. After a couple repeated searches he let out a scream of frustration and disbelief. 

"That thief! She gutted my deck when we weren't looking and took my best cards! I gave up a month's allowance to get one of those cards off E-bay!!!" 

Terriermon comforted his friend. "There, there, man, maybe we can put out missing card's report and . . ."

If eyeball heat beams were part of a Lopmon's attack stats, the look Lee gave Terriermon would've turned him into a smaller pile of ash than Kazu's card.

Lee warned darkly. "Don't you DARE start too!" 

"Yes Tamer." Terriermon replied meekly.

While Kazu and Kenta finished putting a pile of ashes into a hole in the ground and covering it with dirt, Lee collected himself. If what Jeri said was true, he didn't have to worry about spreading the warning anymore. 

As an eternal optimist, Lee had to assume the female reporter visiting his school had been successful in getting the word out. Or, at the very least, had done so until the government showed up to clamp a lid on the entire affair.

Until he got hold of a radio or television, he planned to hang onto that comforting thought despite the nagging feeling that he was deluding himself. Again.

"Heh." Mumbled Lee.

"What?" Asked Terriermon.

"I was just thinking. I may've just figured out why people aren't noticing they're changing into digimon half the time and forget they were human before.

Humans... err sentient beings like us... accept the reality given to them. We always try to take the bizarre and fit it into our definition of what should be.

You're getting scales? It's gotta be a rash! See an angel? It must be a hallucination. Most people can't stand change. If things get too far off center, they accept the situation as normal instead of complaining about it."

It's actually very simple. It's an old mentality test. You have one guy in a room full of people saying two blocks of different lengths are the same, after much frustration and spent endurance; everyone will agree rather than worry about it. If your body turns into a digimon, if the mirror agrees, if everyone remembers you as a digimon, your brain follows suit!" 

"Sure. That's logical."

Jeri couldn't help but overhear what Lee said. 

"That doesn't explain Miss Usagi. Except for the drawings she kept taking away from Takato, she wouldn't have known what a digimon was if it bit her. Now she knows practically everything about them and is acting accordingly. I don't want to go anywhere near her if she turns completely into a Gatomon. Her no nonsense attitude was turning violent.Ó

Gatomon? Who would have thought? I guess she does look a bit like Hikari from the anime. And that was her partner digimon.

"It IS just a theory, Jeri." Lee replied defending himself. "I wish dad was here, he's always good at stuff like this." _Dad. _

No one would probably agree what Lee said next either, but he blurted it out anyways.

"I guess it's safe to go home now, huh?" 

The others looked disheartened. It was actually kind of fun living alone, away from their parents and siblings. Takatomon was the first say anything. 

"I guess."

Guilmon said nothing. He didn't have to. He knew exactly what the look in Takatomon's eyes meant. His eyes were broadcasting the exact same message. 'Help me! Figure out some excuse not to go! I want to stay here with you!' 

Jeri, on the other hand, looked plainly sad. She knew her parents would severely punish her now. And she'd certainly deserve it. She felt herself grow distant. She stayed rooted to the spot, lost in her own dark thoughts. 

Kazu and Kenta looked at each other. "Uh." The bird clicked. "Can we not and say we did? I don't think I have the energy to walk anywhere, much less fly, and especially if I've got to carry a chubby lizard boy!" 

"Hey!" The lizard boy in question responded. 

"It true. You've got to cut back on the in-flight snacks!" 

Terriermon tapped his friend and Tamer on the shoulder. 

"Lee! Reality check! Neither of us can exactly 'walk' anywhere fast. We're far too small. And I just don't trust your gliding skills to get you anywhere in one piece yet. If we're caught before we reach your home, we'll wind up bouncing around in plastic bubbles. What good are we gonna be to anyone then?"

As Lee reflected on the countless things filling a city that could easily maim or kill someone the size of a soccer ball, Jeri was having a flashback on what Ruki's grandmother had said.

_I trust you know the fate of plague carriers. _

'Reality check indeed.' Lee thought as he appraised the group. 

Kazu and Kenta were too tired, or too lazy, to go anywhere. And what Terriermon said was a classic example of a fatal flaw. The odds of two dog/bunnies surviving any long trips across Tokyo were zip. 

Takato and Guilmon had exactly the opposite problem. Without really wanting to, they'd probably panic half the city before they got back to the bakery. And what would happen if someone were actually stupid enough to attack two bright red dinosaurs with built in flamethrowers? 

That left.

"Ah... Jeri? Don't you want to go home?" 

Lee looked back at Lee with a vacant look in her eyes. After a moment's pause she looked down at the ground and in a whisper, 'No." 

"Why not?"

"Well, I don't have any train fare, I got caught trying to get a free ride on the train, and it'll be morning by the time I get there by walking and . . ." 

Mid sentence Jeri stopped. The time for lies was over. No matter how painful, it was time for the truth to come out. 

"I attacked my mom!" She didn't think twice about not calling the woman her step mom.

Lee scanned Jeri head to foot. A single look at the long claws that'd just popped out of Jeri's fingers was enough to bring horrible images to his mind.

"You lost control of your digimon side?" 

"Yes!Ó _Excuse._ ÒNo! She thought my tail was phony. She tried to yank it off! I just wanted her to stop! I . . . I clawed her face!" 

Lee didn't have to be a psychologist to know Jeri was on the edge of a mental breakdown. It would probably be best to let her ride it out. 

As Jeri tried to compose herself, Lee stared at the night sky and wondered what they could've done to deserve this. Takato's brain had turned to mush, and his couldn't be far behind. It was only a matter of time before 'Leemon' made his appearance and 'Lee' became less than a memory. 

But Jeri was still human, more of less. Maybe she wouldn't change anymore._ Yea right. Staying out here with the rest of us might be the worst thing for her right now. Safety-in-numbers be damned!_

While Takatomon didn't want to leave Guilmon, he didn't want his Tamer to be hurt inside either.

"Jerimon? We can go home together if you want." Takatomon queried. It took her a moment to respond. "Takato, you and I don't live in the same place." 

"I know. But I just don't want to leave you. You're my Tamer." 

"I don't want to be!" Jeri screamed. "I just want to be your friend!" 

Takatomon blinked confused. "I thought that was what a Partner and Tamer were. Friends. Friends forever."

Jeri looked into Takato's maroon, almost red eyes. Where others might see only the loyalty of a mindless animal, she saw intelligence and compassion. 

Jeri didn't know whether to laugh or cry. Latching onto Takato's oversized neck with both arms, she decided on both. 

Takatomon's digimon mind seized up like a stripped gear. People laughed when happy... right? And they cried when sad... right? But what were they when they did both at the same time?

He looked to Guilmon for answers.

"Don't worry, Takato. You were like that too when you were a humon." 

Takatomon perked up.

"I keep telling you Guilmon. I'm a 'mon!'" 

For the first time in Guilmon's short life, he too felt the need to cry and laugh at the same time.

Miles away, other people were having problems of their own. 

* * * *

"This is KDOT Channel 17, with Dan Hsu and Nea Iyame." A deep voice announced as a televised image of a building draped in heavy silver plastic sheeting came into focus. In the center of the building, men in yellow biohazard suits were walking in out of a large door flap. 

The voice continued.

"Now on to the top story of the hour: The West Shinjuku school district was recently placed under quarantine for unknown reasons." 

ÒGood evening, I'm Dan Hsu." A grayed haired man wearing an expensive looking blue suit stared into the camera lens and spoke calmly. 

"And I'm Nea Iyame." His female co-anchor chirped. Her smiling face remained on screen less than a second. It was obvious who ruled the roast in this news show.

"Now back to our top story. When asked about the situation, the government biohazard squads would give no comment. " 

Dan fiddled with the papers set in front of him. 

"Everyone inside the West Shinjuku schools is being held incommunicado since early this morning. Parents and relatives of the detained have 'reportedly' been notified but no explanation of the cause has been given. The school board has been in an emergency meeting for well over an hour, but even they have no further information to give the media about this unprecedented. 

"Please stay tuned to this channel for future updates. We will be bringing you future updates as they become available..." 

Five minutes after the news story was done, Liz's video finally made it through processing. While Liz wouldn't be able to boost she got the story out first, she did get what really counted: Proof. 

Unfortunately, as one of the many 'temporarily detained' people inside the building, she didn't know when she'd be able to enjoy her five minutes of fame among her co-workers.

For what seemed the millionth time... in true television news tradition... they broadcasted a few seconds of what Liz had filmed this morning as 'Breaking News'.

It didn't matter. Most people still thought it was a joke as the images of partially mutated children, and a weird looking cat woman, flashed across screen the length and breadth of Japan.

"Could the people running the new station be 'that' desperate for ratings?" Was the thought most viewers had in mind 

But the fact that they kept repeating it in total seriousness, complied with the biohazard story right afterwards, was beginning to sink in. The line between 'news' and 'entertainment' was getting thinner by the year. The whole thing could be a monstrous 'War of the World's' prank thought up by some ad agency looking for publicity.

Although, would anyone kidnap a bunch of people, and cover a whole building in plastic tarps, just to sell toothpaste. It didn't make sense. Unless... 

Speaking of disaster in the making, Impmon being Impmon was trying to trigger one of his own.

* * * *

"Yoooohoooo, where are ay foxy? C'mon out toots ol' Impmon's looking for ya!!" Impmon called out in hopes of attracting Renamon. For some odd reason he really wanted to see the data fox Digimon. Though how in the heck he was supposed to know where to look for her was anybody's guess, and it doubtful Impmon even bothered to think that far. This logic perhaps was that if he wanted it bad enough, the shadow digimon would appear on her own. 

As he had done some many times in the past, Impmon had once again underestimated Renamon's stealth skills. Even when she felt the need, she had a hard time dealing with the little purple digimon. And right now she wanted nothing to do with him. She had problems of her own. 

How was she going to carry on in the physical world without a tamer? Her alliance to Rika as her Partner was defunct. Her only desire was to stay hidden and do what she did best: survive. 

If the annoying little imp got any closer, she'd just kick him into the sun. It would do him good to get a tan.

Putting that cheerful thought aside, Renamon began to watch him instead. The pesky little troublemaker seemed to be happy on his own. His twisted little mind had no use for humans except as something to torment. He certainly didn't seem to be searching for a Tamer to link up with. 

Ultimately however, the little imp was below her. She had far more important tasks at hand.

And it was a trying task hiding her presence from another kitesune, but Renamon still had the edge from a lifetime of experience that Rika simply did not have and when necessary Renamon could cloak her aura as well as her visible shape. 

Renamon had followed Rika when the child had left her homestead yet again. ÐRenamon had originally gone only far enough to be outside Rika's senses.- 

Renamon being with Rika would only harmed the new digimon's human personality and Renamon would not do that to her. But that didn't mean Renamon planned on leaving the inexperienced runaway fighter naked to every high level digimon that came the girl's way. So she would play the part of Guardian Angel, an unseen protector. Her child or not, Renamon had no designs to abandon Rika. Weather Rika perceived it that way or not.

Not so far away, another digimon was standing as still as a statue on a pedestal, like some gargoyle on the build's ledge. She didn't need to take her shadow form, the darkness served as her protection from human sight. She no longer cared to ask the Tamers for help in finding her lost D-Ark. It didn't matter anymore . . . She no longer considered herself a Tamer. Only humans could be Tamers. She would be something far greater . . .

_I am the darkness. I am the light. I am a shadow. I am an echo. I am nothing. I am everything. I move as swiftly I do silently. I am seen only through the corner of the eye. I am the last thing my enemies see. I am a Kitesune-Mana, I do not fear my end, I only fear defeat, victory is my only lust, and it's spoils my only love. I am Rika Nonaka. Kids call me the Digimon Queen. I am something much more profound than that. My only father was lust. My mother was vanity. My nursemaid was neglect. From now on, I'll be just death._

End of Book One

To Be Continued . . .

~ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Flames, rants, comments, reactions, reviews: good or bad, praise, denouement, suggestions (very welcome) and occasional constructive criticism all welcome.

Please just don't write 'MORE!' It leaves me feeling empty and uninspired.

And if you want to just insult ME, do it over e-mail, I keep it public for a reason. That goes double for any reactions you had to any of MY reviews!

And please spare me any Ôfour letter words' in your flames, they make you look bad, not me.

A little extra for those of you who stayed here. 

*Begins To Play Zoids: Century of Chaos Fifth Ending*

P.S. That's the last of the old thread. The memories. 

P.P.S. Here is some free advice. Stay focused on your goals, and never lose faith. 

**Light Sneasel******

**Holy-Psychic-Vulpix******

Silent.Storm 

**Gerjomarty******

**nightdragon0******

**Kanada******

**tremor3258******

**Waldo Terry******

Digimon Lantern 1 

**LunarMew (Wherever you are my friend.) ******

And all the rest, thanks for reading.

And those who inspire me: Farla Blackdragon, Freedom Fighter, Create Card, Joshura, RavenK7, Epsilon, Joshua Falken, Dragoness, Angel-Chan, FireHybrid, Damos no Yami and the great Acy. 

Thank you so much. You people bring so much pleasure into my life you have no idea! 

Read ya later . . . 


	10. PreMath One

Suddenly, from the darkness appear two points of glowing green light. They quickly weave themselves into a hexagram, carefully drawing in strange symbols inside the star's arms. The arcane circle glows a darker green and from it emerges a strange being. Its huge, chained, bird-like wings encase a mysterious body.

"So long... an eternity..." 

The thing speaks with a note of sadness and longing in its voice. The chains groan and, before long, break. The being's huge wings spread. 

"Free..."

It's human! A winged human wearing a white, almost holy robe opens his eyes. They are an enchanting emerald green. 

"I have returned!"

-By Aaron Max-

"Goda has come!" 

**Promise made, promise kept.**

A vision appeared before Aaron Max, it was Alex Warlorn in his old yellow and black mercenary armor he wore before he became an in-training time lord. 

"Your faith will now be rewarded." He said. 

Allomon

Nr: 248

Level: Armor

Kind (soort): Dinosaur 

Type: Data

Attacks: Dino Burst / Dynamite Head

Pre-Digivolution's:

BlackAgumon Crabmon, Hawkmon, Guilmon, Muchomon, Veemon

Digivolution's:

AeroVeeDramon, Orochimon, Vikararamon WarGrowlmon, WaruMonzeamon, Zudomon

Okay, as of right now I'm admitting that I was totally lax on grammar and spelling in the beginning chapters of this story. But you CAN see that with our new pre-reader and some actually effort on my part we've come past that. 

And looking back at the VERY beginning of the story Takato came up with the name Growlmon back in chapter one! And I got the Tamer numbers wrong.

I barrowed a bit between Renamon and Rika in part one from someone else' story but I can't remember the title or the author. 

We also made the mistake of the time scale of Rika getting a Hyper wings cards for Renamon. 

And in series we saw Shabomi open up and jack-in a D-Arc to his computer.

BTW: I found some notes left over from old thread on what I originally had planned for when Jeri got home. 

After Jeri finds Rikamon coldly ranting on how everyone leaves her in the end and goes to her home to find her human family. (BTW: she takes her laundry from the last few days and has Takato burn it, just to be safe) 

Her father freaks, and so does her stepmother, her little brother thinks it's cool. Let's just say it doesn't turn out well for Jeri's home life. 

(Note, Jeri's family wasn't infected due to the non contact Jeri had with them, and they do the laundry on Fridays) '

Sorry about the tenses, we had a miscommunication between writers.

I need to stop using 'most confusing thing yet' over and over. 

Hats off to Dilbert. Pokemon movie three. Of course thanks to my eternal inspiration Farla BlackDragon, thanks to the other writers, and our super human pre-reader Charles. 

The days of long waits and long chapters are over, reliability is what 'sells' fanfictions these days! 

'Out of the light, and into the dark.' Kain, Spider-Man

"End of Page One of . . . we aren't finished yet by a long shot." 

Dang was I right for a change. 

"What goes up must come down but my feet don't touch the ground." -Sonic Heroes. 

I went through a LOT of pain to get this chapter up, the things I do for fanfiction. 

~ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Jeri didn't let go of Takato that night. Not even once. After several hours whispering comforting words that sounded false even to her own ears, she too eventually fell asleep. Her tears left long trails down her cheeks and along the scaly length of Takato's neck.

While the pair slept, Kenta and Kazu spent the evening playing several rounds of the Digimon card game. How the boys had the nerve to even touch their decks was beyond Lee. He'd surely go insane if he found a card baring an image of what he had become.

Despite the park's poor lighting, the mixed heritage Chinese/Japanese youngster's Lopmon eyes could easily see they were using the cards Takato had given them only two days before. Lee had initially suspected theft, but Takato had soon backed-up their improbable story.

"Did you REALLY have to give your entire card collection to those twits?" Terriermon had asked.

"Well," Takatomon replied looking down the three black-tipped ivory-white claws that'd replaced his human fingers. "It's not like I'd be able to use them. Besides, touching them didn't feel right somehow."

Calumon, as always, was interested in neither sleep nor conversation as he bounced around giggling madly. Until, finally, sometime near midnight, he abruptly ran out of energy far sooner than Lee would have thought likely.

As far as Lee was concerned, the basketball-shaped digimon child was the closest living embodiment of the concept of perpetual motion he'd ever seen.

Since none of the children wore a watch, and, as far as he could tell their D-Arks lacked a clock function, he wasn't able to put his growing suspicion to the test.

Until evidence arose to contradict his casual observations, Lee would remain firmly convinced that the hyperactive little digimon had a built-in timer that switched him off at the stroke of midnight.

Terriermon, meanwhile, spent most of the night by himself. After enduring a seemingly endless barrage of terrible puns and less-than-original jokes, Lee had made his wish to be left alone unambiguous in the extreme.

While his partner sought other less-hazardous means to keep himself entertained, Lee futilely attempted to get some sleep. His mind had other plans.

Like an out of control merry-go-round, it kept racing in circles trying to devise a solution to the current impossible situation. Lee finally gave up and wisely decided to follow whatever course of action his computer-expert father told him to follow.

What exactly that might be, Lee couldn't even begin to guess. But the certainty that his father would be able to help him was unchallengeable. Getting to home safely was another matter altogether.

The digimon was out of the bag, so to speak. No way would any bunch of those men-in-black would be able to sweep this mess under the rug and out of public view. That left only the police, and the occasional homicidal digimon weirdo that seemed to be popping up in the Real World with increasing frequency, to worry about.

Assuming the government didn't decide to cleanse the infected area by raining nuclear death upon them, the odds of getting home to his father weren't all that bad.

Not that they had much of a choice. Standing around looking like a bunch of late-night horror show rejects was a definite no-winner. Having thought the problem into a dead-end, Lee's mind decided to issue a Momentai on the current subject and move onto even less pleasant images.

Like, for instance, what would happen if they got caught? Would they spend the rest of their lives sharing a cage for the entertainment of the zoo going public, or would life-long careers as laboratory guinea pigs be the best they could hope for?

Either way, it wasn't the most pleasant train of thought to be riding when sheer exhaustion began the long overdue task of putting his mind to rest. Hopefully, his subconscious would give him a few hours of dreamless peace.

No such luck.

Even as he gradually drifted off, Lee's altered nose was sending conflicting messages to his slumbering brain. Something was not right. Takato and the others didn't smell right.

Not human.

Not digimon.

Something in between.

Wrong.

The digital part of his brain drew his lips back in a small smile even as his eyes closed and everything slowly faded to black. The scent of pure digimon, in each and every one of his formally human friends and classmates, was growing stronger by the second.

* * * *

Camping under the stars without a single blanket amongst them on December first wasn't particularly pleasant. City born and breed, none of the children had come closer to 'roughing it' than the occasion class field trip.

Of all of them, Calumon seemed the least discomforted. If the cold bothered him, the bouncing ball of inexhaustible playful energy showed no sign of it.

Lee and Calumon came in a close second. Even their thin covering of head to toe fur seemed to offer significant protection against the biting wind, and having blanket-size ears to wrap around their tiny bodies when needed was a definite plus also.

Fire types like Takato and Guilmon clearly had no need for fur. Without a single word of protest, they'd dropped to the chilly ground and fallen asleep in a matter of seconds.

Takato's, or rather the scaly prehistoric creature that he'd become, had only shown distress when he witnessed Jeri shivering on that same icy ground.

With an instinctive animalistic urge to protect a beloved master that needed no explanation, he'd curled around her body and held onto her tightly.

His master... his friend... would share his body warmth this night. In ways his gradually digivolving intellect could not yet explain, Jeri's safety had totally supplanted his human instinct for personal survival.

Several meters away, Kenta and Kazu had decided to follow Jeri and Takatomon's lead.

Only seconds before falling asleep, Lee had threatened to tear off

Terriermon's ears and beat the digital bunny/dog to death with them if he uttered even the slightest inappropriate comment in reference to the nature of the duo's sleeping arraignments.

Snug and warm inside his self-made cocoon, Lee's brain was still searching for ideas on how to travel incognito as sleep finally overcame him.

His final thought on the subject reached the apex of ridiculousness: Even he, the eternal optimist, thought it unlikely they'd find clothing able to fit everyone... unlikely as winning a trillion yen lotto.

And even if they did, what were the odds against a bunch of oddly shaped creatures wearing trench coats and hats being able safely parade through Tokyo unseen? Winning that aforementioned lotto ticket seemed a sure bet in comparison.

Lee's dreams were as unpleasant as the thoughts that preceded them. They jumped from images of his human self being strangled by long Lopmon ears... his ears... to snapshots of unendurable horror: Suzie's room.

Wherein, as Terriermon had suffered so often before, he would endure a hellish eternity of Pretty Pants dolly dress ups and endless tea parties.

Death by suffocation was looking better by the second.

The irrepressible Terriermon, on the other hand, slept like a baby. Make that a digital baby with a filthy X-rated mind. His usual dreams of Hetai between various anime characters continued non-stop most of the night.

Kenta's dreams were far less pleasant. Most seemed centered around finding himself, his human self, naked before a classroom full of fully clothed digimon and his digivolved teacher, Usagimon.

This, of course, as it would any normal ten year old, made him wish for merciful Lightning-Claw attack to put an end to his embarrassment. A quick deletion would be far less painful than what he was feeling just then.

Kazu's dreams, as to be expected, were not only akin to those of his inseparable counterpart, but equally embarrassing. Only he, amongst a room filled with other animal-type digital monsters, was fully clothed. Their derisive laughter made him want to crawl instinctively under a rock.

Despite their mutual state of dress, or undress, both Kenta and Kazu eventually found themselves at their desks taking final exams they had not studied for. The look of panic in their eyes only provoked greater laughter in their digimon classmates.

The overwhelming pressure Japanese parents place upon their children is well known; failure to excel in school simply isn't an option. If the angry stares Ms. Usagimon was directing at the two digivolved children were any indication, failure to pass their finals would be... well... final.

The Digital World didn't give out prizes for second place. Competition was fierce and unrelenting. Success had nothing to do with the meaningless human goals of better employment or financial security.

Digimon fought to survive. Period. Success meant a vanquished foe and a full stomach. Winning was only a means of getting stronger. For that was the only way to delay the inevitable.

No matter how lucky or successful, every digital inhabitant of the Digital World would inevitably cross paths with a more powerful, or hungrier, digimon. On that day the final grade would be issued.

No do-overs.

No extra credits.

No second chances.

From the look in Ms. Usagimon's cat-like eyes, neither of the two boys was likely to leave this classroom alive if they didn't pass their finals.

It was that simple.

It was that brutal.

The other mutants suffered dreams to write home about, but only the strongest of heart would dare read them.

Calumon's mainly revolved around dying in the center of a starless and pitch-black void. With every passing second, yet another byte of his irreplaceable data... his very being... floated away and was lost forever.

His greatest fear, to die alone and friendless, caused him to scream in terror as four gigantic digimon-like shadows approached to recover the only unharmed part of his rapidly vanishing body: the triangular symbol attached to his forehead.

Guilmon's dreams were infinitely more enjoyable... at first. With no idea how he'd gotten there, he was in a brightly lit room enjoying his first birthday party. Prompted by a crowd of his new digimon and human friends alike, he made his wish and blew out the single candle.

A simple wish ... never to be separated from his friends... was instantly granted. But not in the manner he'd hoped for. Not even close.

As soon as the candle was extinguished, all the other partygoers morphed into perfect copies of his digital self. Even the stunned and disbelieving looks in all their eyes were exactly the same.

"Where are you, Takato?" The red dragon cried out in terror for his Tamer as all the others did likewise. Each one saying it was the one, and only, true Guilmon. How was he so sure he was the original? The structure seemed to collapse backwards and he was drowning in a sea of himself. 

Jeri's dream was similarly innocuous at first. Boring would probably be a better way to describe it. What else could be said about a dream that starts with nothing more than a young schoolgirl dressed in a PE uniform awaiting the arrival of her less punctual classmates in the center of an empty gym?

Not a particularly creative or infrequent dream. All seemed as it should be, if not, that is, for the long lion's tail snaking through a hole in the rear of her shorts.

In the blink of an eye she was no longer alone. The entire playing court was filled with human beings. People like Takato and Lee, along with their families and their children, were crowding closer and closer around her.

Each and every one was screaming 'Look at the freak!' and pointing at her. Their voices soon combined into a earsplitting chant that drowned out her attempts to prove that she was the same person she'd always been.

With the same speed they'd arrived, the humans vanished and were instantly replaced by an equal number of digimon. Many she recognized as infected children from her school, others she'd never seen before except as strangely drawn pictures on digimon cards.

The chant remained exactly the same.

Without dropping a syllable, the digimon keep chanting from exactly were the humans had left off. The word 'freak' cut through her like a knife, along with other far less polite phrases the digital monsters soon added to describe her semi-human semi-digimon condition.

Just as Jeri began to cry, they too vanished into nothingness.

The gym was empty for a third time.

Her solitude fasted less than a second before yet another familiar figure suddenly appeared.

'Guilmon? Is that Guilmon?' Jeri thought.

It was hard to tell. Animal digimon simply look too alike for a human to tell members of each species apart easily. And the red-scaled dinosaur standing before her was no exception.

Covered in deep cuts and bleeding badly, the digital monster was clearly going to expire any second. Its Tamer had obviously misjudged the power level of their latest opponent, or had been totally unskilled.

Lee would never let his partner suffer such damage. He'd give up his own life before letting such harm befall Terriermon.

Nor was Takato likely to go to such extremes. If anything, Guilmon's Tamer regarded his digital monster far more as a pet or even a child than fighting machine.

'What's wrong with its eyes?' Jeri thought as the creature staggered a few steps closer. Its brown eyes flashed blood red when it moved. Only one digimon she knew had eyes like that. Even before his change. 

"Takato? Is that you, Takato? Who did this to you?" Jeri screamed.

In reply, Takato raised a paw and pointed it directly at her. The answer was clear: Jeri had destroyed yet another life. She was, or would eventually be, responsible for his death.

As he broke apart into a rapidly fading cloud of sparkling data fragments, Jeri heard a familiar voice calling out her name.

"Jeri? Forgive me. I... I tried to protect you."

"There's nothing to forgive, Takato."

"I'm going away."

"I know." Jeri replied with tear welling in her eyes.

"That's good. We'll be together soon, Tamer. I'm sorry you died so

horribly."

Jeri response, a lung-bursting scream, nearly awoke her from her nightmare.

With the instantaneous change of viewpoint that is typical of dreams, Takatomon suddenly found himself standing in the center of a crowd of humons. Something in the back of his brain identified the room around him as a 'gym', although, truth be known, he didn't have a clue what that meant anymore.

Not that it mattered. Something stranger than an change in location had occurred: far stranger.

For some unknown reason, he had de-degivolved back into the scrawny body of a defenseless humon child. His powerful muzzle filled with sharp fangs...his razor-edged claws capable of cutting through metal... his sledgehammer hard tail able to knock down a far larger opponent... were gone.

Worse yet was the hollow feeling in his chest. That part of his body that made flame was gone as well. For the first time since his transformation into an unclothed digital animal, he felt truly naked.

Even as Takatomon struggled to adjust to his pre-digivolved form, he looked up to find his Tamer standing only a few steps away. She looked upset. Something serious was bothering her. She didn't seem to like the word the crowd of strangely familiar humons was chanting.

'Wait, that's not right.' The formerly human mind observed.

They were calling his Tamer something. Something bad. But what is a freak? And why did he suddenly feel compelled to yell it at her too?

Takato never finished that thought. Takatomon did. Once more the human child's body had vanished and been replaced by that of a digital dinosaur.

Changing into a radically different body is hardly a remarkable event to those that inhabit the Digital World. Yet, however much their outer appearance might change, each digimon was comforted by the fact that their core programming... their soul... remained inviolable.

It would be less than honest to say that Takato, the now nearly totally mentally and physically digivolved Takatomon, wasn't totally shocked to find himself uncontrollable adding his voice to the crowd.

He wanted to stop calling her that ugly word, but he had no control over the alien body he inhabited. Even when he started adding words sounded far worse, he couldn't stop yelling them at the top of his lungs.

It was wrong. Not right. He shouldn't... he couldn't... say such thing to the most important being in his life: His Tamer. His most basic instincts commanded him to protect and care for Jeri without question. Permitting anyone, or anything, to harm her was literally unthinkable. Doing such himself made the act even less tolerable.

With the same 'no in between' transition as before, he found himself standing by her side once more in his rightful digital dinosaur body. She turned and spoke in a clearly terrified voice. From the hurt look in her eyes, it was clear she expected him to continue mocking her. What was that cloud of data behind her? 

"Takato?"

"Jeri?" He replied. For some strange reason it felt right to skip the 'mon' on her name like she had on his.

"Takato. I'm sorry."

The dinosaur answered in a barely audible whisper.

"Takato not mean to say those bad things. Jeri Tamer. Jeri friend. Takato love you."

Even in her sleep, Jeri felt herself smile, her tear of pain dry. The hole in her chest was filling. The world was a much less foreboding place with him there. 

"Oh Takato." Tear of joy churned up in her eyes. "Thank you." There would always be at least one person who would accept her, who would never care about her appearance, one who would only care about the person beneath the surface, and that one person, was all she needed. 

Jeri's mind and body spent the rest of the night in blissful slumber, Takatomon looking like an oversized teddy bear in Jeri's arms, not that he would have minded. No matter what the format, weather he was aware one was of it or not, Jeri was the center of his universe. 

Sunrise Thursday morning couldn't have come soon enough for Lee, but his mentally exhausted digital body wouldn't let him wake before it was totally recharged. By the time he finally did come around, he didn't think he'd ever get the imaginary taste of bad tea out of his mouth.

What greeted him upon opening his eyes almost gave him a stroke.

Once, seemingly an eternity ago, Lee had been certain that nothing in his life would ever be as bizarre as meeting a real digimon. Shortly thereafter he was forced to revise that assessment.

For a short time it seemed every child he encountered was accompanied by a digital monster. Many made the wisecracking Terriermon appear downright normal in comparison.

'Could this get any weirder?' Lee had thought after seeing Renamon... something like a cross between a fox and a woman... and Guilmon... a flame red dinosaur with a blast furnace in its mouth... trash an underground parking lot.

OH YEAH!! The universe answered.

Getting turned into a clone of his bunny/dog certainly qualified. Having a terrified Calumon ask that promise never to eat him came in a close second.

And now, just when he thought the uppermost limits of the This-Is-Strange meter had been reached, something came along and sent the needle into orbit. His stunned mind has no doubts whatsoever that the universe was yelling 'Gotcha!' and laughing hysterically somewhere.

Less than a yard away was Jeri. Jeri wearing HIS clothes!

Lee sputtered like a motorboat.

"J-Jeri . . . w-what are you wearing?!"

"Your stuff." Jeri replied offhandedly.

Clearly she thought the question not only redundant but also irrelevant. Besides, at that moment she was more interested in finding a less painful way to cram an overly sensitive lion's tail into rear of his tight jeans.

"But-but what about your dress?"

"What dress?" Jeri answered in the same 'why do I have to explain the obvious?' tone. "It was falling apart at the seams. Don't you think we'll be drawing more than our share of stares already without me walking down the street nude? It's not as if they're of any use to you anymore. I thought you wouldn't mind my

taking them."

Lee's rational mind instantly agreed with the logic of her argument. His subconscious had only one comment to make on the matter: To hell with logic!

Giving up his clothing, as his more emotional side saw the situation, would be to acknowledge he'd given up all hope of ever being human again. Besides, walking around covered in nothing but a fur might be fine and dandy for a digital monster, but he'd certainly get into trouble if he returned to normal and had nothing to wear but an embarrassed grin.

Speaking of things that shouldn't be shown in public, Lee ended his internal debate just in time to see how Jeri had resolved her 'little problem.'

With a few deft swipes of a sharp claw, Jeri had cut a small slit in the seat of Lee's pants and was presently threading her long tail through the small opening. Jeri was lucky to be at the age where boys and girls could still exchange clothing.

It wouldn't be long before the development of certain female physical 'traits' rendered it impossible. For now though, Lee's clothing fit well enough.

"Still." Lee protested weakly. "I wish you had asked me. Can't you just wear your dress until you find something else?"

"Sorry I can't. I had Takato burn them this morning."

"What?!"

"They were totaled and smelled worse than I looked. You'd need bleach strong enough to eat through concrete to get a stink like that out, and anything that powerful would've dissolved what little was left of my skirt."

"True. But still seems a waste."

Jeri looked down in the eyes. "Why . . . don't tell me YOU wanted to wear it."

"Of course not!" Lee protested loudly.

Jeri treaded carefully over what she said next. "Uh, Lee. I was wondering something. Someone told me that Lopmons were girl

digimons. So I was wondering, have, you know, noticed any changes? I'll turn around and give you some privacy if you want to make sure."

"Ha! Ha! Very funny." Lee replied sarcastically to her inquiry.

Lee had no need to check. He'd done so a dozen or more times already.

"That know-it-all was nuts! It might be pure fiction, but didn't you see the movie? The Lopmon in that film was one hundred percent B...O...Y!! Lopmons can be any gender. Just because most people can't tell the difference and use the 'it' word a lot, doesn't mean that Lopmons all have to be girls. That'd be weird."

"Tell me if I've got this right. Are you saying you're going to turn into

something like that bizarre rabbity thing that chased Willis around?"

Lee thought for a second but shook his head. "I seriously doubt it. That was a corrupt digivolution like Skullgreymon from the first season."

"If that's true, you really have no idea what you'll become if you...

change?" She didn't dare say 'when. ' 

"Afraid not. I never had Lopmon in my deck. But everything aside, I'd rather not find out! Takato's humanity took a nosedive after he evolved."

"Yes." Jeri said looking at her claws wondering what she'd look like when she fully changed, and, worse yet, what reaching the 'the next level' had in store for her.

As she stood silently thinking about it, Lee took the opportunity to appraise her current condition.

Eyes the same.

Nose still human.

Ears not pointed.

Ho, oh!

"Jeri I've noticed something strange."

"That's not hard."

"No, I mean . . . you haven't grown an inch more fur since your initial

change, and you've had no trouble maintaining your human ego."

"My ego only got larger when I acted like Rika."

Lee didn't really pick up what she said except she had misunderstood. "Not that ego! I meant how you perceive yourself: the mental image of Jeri Kato in your mind's eye. It's still pure human being. My digimon persona has been trying to get into the driver's seat ever since I fully changed. But you've had no trouble remembering you're a human being."

Jeri had to admit, she hadn't thought about it, then again she had a lot to think about, including Takato, this infection, and whether they'd ever be fully human again.

She hadn't really talked about when she had started acting like a real wild cat at school and given her tormentor hers and preferred it stayed that way. "I thought it was, well, just because."

"Trust me on this one, Jeri. There are no 'just because' in the world."

Jeri was eerily silent for a few moments before saying. "Yes. I know." She said the next word as if it was her own personal mantra. "Destiny."

Lee wasn't sure how to respond to that. "Uh. I just mean we shouldn't take everything at face value that's all."

"Whatever." Jeri whispered. Had it been her desire for things to be this way? Had it been her design to have the universe be the way it was? :Was she somehow responsible?

_"Takato I've been thinking . . . I want to be a Tamer."_

A flashback hit her in the gut like a freight train. At school, only a few days before all this craziness began, she'd made her desire to become a Tamer known to Takato.

As usual, Takato nearly stumbled over himself as he simultaneously tried to explain that it wasn't a club, AND the fact that he was still clueless on how he'd become a Tamer.

Not that it mattered. She had asked for it. She had gotten it, with a

vengeance! Had an evil Genie eavesdropped on their conversation? Would it soon appear in a poof of smoke to demand her soul for services rendered?

Unlikely as that might be, she still had trouble believing how fast things had changed. Had it only been a few days since her life had turned inside out?

How could this still be the same week? Only this Friday Jeri had needed to arrange for someone to do the family laundry while her class took a fieldtrip into the country.

Before her thoughts could sink further into despair, an alike-sounding pair of voices breaks her concentration.

"What's with you?" Piped in a familiar smart-alecky voice, "Someone steal your ball of yarn?"

"You know Terriermon." Lee stated in a matter of fact tone to hide his distaste. "Your sense of humor is getting worse. Did you spend too much time around Impmon yesterday and catch something?"

"Come on!" Defended Terriermon either having already seen or not caring about Jeri's attire. "I'm suffering too! I'm expected to be on edge."

"And what would you have to be on edge about?" Lee shot back. "My sister and her tea set are miles from here!"

"Big lot you know!" Terriermon fired back. "I was right in the middle of a great Yomato and Taichi love story I was reading on-line when you decided to. err. follow Takato. Just look at me! I'm a wreck! I haven't had access to a web terminal in almost three days! I'm suffering cold-turkey withdrawal here!"

Lee couldn't believe this.

"Agh! That's exactly why I need to clear out the history file every time you get your paws on my computer, Terriermon! My dad would kill me if he thought I was going to those kinds of web sites! What kind of warped people host that cookie cutter yaoi?!"

"The same kind of humans that hosted this BEAUTIFULLY drawn Taichi + Hikari magna. I'm telling you, Hikari's blushing was to die for! I didn't think it was possible to pull off incest and adultery between pre-teens at once and get it even half-way right, but this guy did. Let me think, that's right. His web address was-"

"Stop! I don't want to know!" Lee yelled, stopping Terriermon's reminisces before they could slip further into XXX territory.

Lee still bore mental scars from an accidental visit to one his Partner's favorite sites. He'd spent weeks trying to flush the images out of his head, and his hand still shook whenever he took a chance to visit a new digimon fan art site.

"Terriermon?"

"Yeah?"

"About that 'beautifully drawn Taichi + Hikari manga'."

"What about it?"

"For your information. IT CAN NEVER BE DONE RIGHT!"

Unrepentant as ever, Terriermon replied, "Well. There's no accounting for

taste."

"Or LACK OF!" Lee shot back instantly. "I'd buy some industrial strength cleaner and pour it into those giant ears of yours if it'd clear out some of the grime inside your skull, but I can't trust the child-proof caps to keep Takato and Guilmon out!"

"Nice to see you care."

"At least I DO care, you sick furry weirdo."

Lee wondered if his on-line buddies cared. Due to circumstances out of his control... to put it mildly... he hadn't been able to update his message board threads. Three days with no new uploads would be more than enough to make his online friends lose interest depart for good.

'As if any of that stuff really matters anymore, ' Lee thought. 'My best friends and I have been turned into flesh and blood cartoons, and here I am worrying about a silly little internet board I run for my amusement! '

Sighing deeply in despair at his lack of focus on what was really important; Lee devoted a few minutes to mentally listing his group's most pressing problems. High on the List was his concerns for Takato's welfare. There was no escaping the obvious: Takato's brain had only a few more cells to go before it turned into digital rice pudding.

And if that weren't bad enough, it seemed Takato couldn't get into a fight without fainting moments after it was done. They couldn't keep dragging his dinosaurian butt away each time. He was so darn heavy! Not that it was much easier to get him moving when he was wide awake.

Speaking of being awake, or, in this particular case, the opposite thereof, Lee looked up at Kazu and Kenta. Snoring loud enough to recompile a de-rezzed digital monster, the pair was his only other company.

It took little of Lee's imagination to guess everyone else had gone off to, to find breakfast. He only hoped their foraging efforts more success, and far less trouble, than last time. A repeat performance of the fast-food mess that'd landed Takato and Guilmon in jail would not be a good-thing.

If only he knew how the purple menace, Impmon, kept himself feed without getting caught; as if the little devil would tell them anything without mixing in a few dozen insults. Unless he feed it soon, Lee's growling middle might decide jailhouse food was worth an indefinite stay behind prison bars.

As he tried to control a stomach that was getting louder and feeling emptier by the second, the fore mentioned wine-hued digital devil was greedily enjoying the spoils of yet another daring criminal assault upon the hapless human inhabitants of the modern city of Tokyo.

Okay. Let's be honest. It was more like shoplifting and arson in the third degree.

Almost a block from Lee and the black hole that'd suddenly materialized in his furry middle, a large man was busy cursing as he smoothed a small fire with his formally white apron.

'How in heck can a potted plant catch fire!' was the only thought going through the irate shop owner's mind as he examined the smoldering remains of a large decorative plastic plant located several meters from his curbside fruit stand.

Correction, 'Who ever heard of spontaneous combustion in cold weather like this? ' was another thought sharing space with the first.

His next few thoughts, as he turned to examine his fruit racks and noticed the not-so-mysterious loss of nearly a dozen apples, were unprintable.

Extremely so.

Safely out of range of the merchant's righteous anger, the conscious members of Lee's traveling group were having troubles of their own.

"Where'd Takato disappear to?" Jeri asked Terriermon as they returned to Lee's side after an urgent visit to some nearby bushes for different reasons.

Don't ask.

"It's like this," Terriermon replied. "While you were 'busy' scaring the squirrels, Calumon convinced Guilmon that a game of soccer would be fun. And you know how fossil-brain gets when he hears the 'F' word.

"Soccer?" Jeri blinked in confusion.

"Calumon's obsessed with the game. You must've seen what vandals did to your school a couple weeks back. They broke into a storage shed two nights in a row. Instead of stealing any expensive equipment, they grabbed the chalk spreader and spent hours drawing weird symbols all over the soccer field."

"They even drew a pentagram," Lee added.

Jeri put the piece together in her head. "Oh."

Terriermon continued with the most overused start over phrase ever.

"Anywho... since there's no one in the park this early to 'borrow' one from, that airhead Guilmon started looking at me funny. I made myself scarce. Pronto!"

"It would serve you right, smart mouth." Lee replied.

"Funny you should say that... bro. Just before I left, I pointed out how well that big brain of 'yours' would bounce!"

"Just you wait until I get my hands on you!" Lee yelled.

"What hands? In case you haven't looked lately, those are paws!"

"That's enough you two! What about Calumon and Guilmon now?"

The question was mote a second later.

"There you are!" Calumon riding atop Guilmon's head yelled. Takatomon was following only a few paces behind.

For someone who'd suffered through hideous nightmares most of the night, Calumon was suffering no apparent aftereffects. Not that anyone was likely to notice. The little digital dynamo rarely stood long enough in one place to be examined.

"Why'd you run away like that, Terriermon? Takato promised not to hurt you."

Lee smiled. For every step Takato took, Lee's Partner backed up a pace. You could call Terriermon many negative things, but gullible wasn't one of them.

Lee noticed in passing that Calumon's forehead symbol was brighter than it had been yesterday. He wondered what had happened to liven it up again.

"Sure," Terriermon replied while scanning the area for the best place to hide, "but aren't you guys hungry?"

Looking back on it, Terriermon had to admit that question was probably not the most intelligent ever asked. When are digimon... especially digimon like Guilmon... not hungry?

Guilmon blinked at the words referring to his belly.

"I am a little hungry."

Lee was split between grinning at the mental image of Terriermon chocking on the hind paw, and wanting to kick the big-mouthed digimon clear across the park for bringing up the subject of food!

Before Guilmon could do something they might not live to regret, Jeri jumped into the conversation.

"Don't worry. I'll get us something." She announced in a confident tone.

"Uh, Jeri?" Lee called out while waving a tiny paw to get her attention. "I really don't think that's such a good idea. What about what happened when Takato and Guilmon tried that a couple days ago?"

"I'm not going to steal it!" Jeri said appalled that Lee would think such a thing. She had already committed her bad deed this year. "I said I was going to get it."

"Like... from where?" Lee asked skeptically.

Jeri swallowed. This wasn't easy to do or say. She had no doubt in her mind that Takato would stick to her like a Siamese twin no matter where she went, "My family's bar."

"You said they weren't infected. Are you willing to risk it?" Lee asked.

Jeri looked at her right hand... her right paw-like hand... as painful

memories of last night's debacle racked her brain.

Had she had infected them in a moment of mindless anger? Jeri reflected as razor sharp claws extended and retracted from her fingertips.

And what of Masahiko's note about his friend's sister and her new found tail? Had Max been exposed already? Did he infect the family long before she jumped through her bedroom window?

No, that's not right. If they changed, there'd be no one to blame but

herself. Since none of them had recognized her lion's tail as natural, it was unlikely they'd been infected before her arrival.

Whatever this 'disease' was, it almost always seemed to attack the brains of its victims first. To greater or lesser extent in some, it made them ready to accept the bizarre physical alterations to come as nothing particularly remarkable.

Either way, would her family spread it to others? Maybe she had a duty to warn them?

"I thought your family ran a bakery," Terriermon called out loud enough to interrupt her troubled thoughts, "and Takato's family ran a bar."

"Nope. It's the other way around, Terriermon. My father even took me there once to pick up some supplies when our usual wholesale dealer had a delivery problem."

Takatomon nodded in agreement. While his memories of ever being human were nearly gone, nothing could erase his Tamer's face from his brain. Even before his digivolution, this 'humon' had been special to him. But was HE her first digimon Partner?

Growling in anger at a strange image that flashed before his reptilian eyes, Takatomon, the once human Takato, prepared to do battle with another digimon for the affection of his chosen Tamer.

What would happen if he discovered the true nature of his hated rival was anyone's guess. Yes, for all concerned, it would be best if he never learnt that the digimon he so desired to destroy was a hand puppet.

Lee continued to protest. "You're a carrier. I meant to tell you to minimize contact yesterday but it slipped my mind. It wouldn't be right to take a chance with other people's lives like that again."

Takatomon looked Jeri in the eyes. "You can go to my place Jerimon. We can get bread there and my parents are already digimon so this 'infection' shouldn't matter."

This last statement was true. What was bizarre was Guilmon's calm acceptance of it. Normally, as had happened so many times in the past, even a casual reference to the fully stocked shelves inside that bakery was enough to make the bread-loving dino break into a song and dance routine.

As Guilmon stood strangely docile, Terriermon's ear tapped Lee on

the shoulder in a voice barely loud enough for Lee's hyper-acute Lopmon ears to hear, "It'd hardly be unusual where I come from, but don't you think a bakery run by a pair of digital dragons in the middle of a Real World city would've attracted a LOT of attention by now?"

"Normally, I'd have to agree with you." Lee replied after a moment of thought. "However, with all the chaos at the school, I think the media and the police have their hands full keeping things calm. And don't forget this IS Japan. It wouldn't be the first time people saw someone in a rubber dinosaur costume trying to sell them something. Most of their customers probably assume it's some kind of lame sales gimmick; that is, those that even have the time to say hello as they race in

and out on their way to work."

A sudden flash of inspiration hit Lee. Just as fast, he hit it back.

It wouldn't work. Not twice. Even if Jeri could still pass as human, there was no way they'd be able to repeat Takato's kid-in-a-costume trick.

How he'd managed to get Guilmon across town earlier in the week without causing a riot spoke volumes for the 'If you don't involved you won't get hurt' rule most people living in crowded cities live by.

And let's not forget the 'burger joint' incident.

Fully transformed into a digital clone of his dino Partner, Takato decided to try it again. Acting like a pair of horror movie extras on lunch break, Takato and Guilmon had stolen food from a fast food franchise and even managed escape from jail after being caught. Even now the police were probably looking for the pair with shoot-to-kill orders.

"Ugh! What am I thinking?!" Lee hissed softly as the absurdity of the idea struck home. Something was definitely NOT RIGHT about the way his brain was working.

Terriermon, seeing the strange look in his Tamer's eyes, backed away slowly in search of someplace less dangerous to be. It wouldn't have been the first time he'd seen a digimon go off the deep end.

'May you live in interesting times', was a phrase his Chinese mother used on occasion. Mostly at people she didn't like. Lee only hoped he was lucky enough to last until things got a whole lot less 'interesting'.

'Okay... brain... let's go through this one step at a time.' Lee thought grimly hoping what passed for a brain in this strange little body would obey.

Question: Could they get Takato to stay behind while Jeri went off again like yesterday, or would the lizard boy follow her no matter what they said?

Question: If they had to stay together, wasn't it logical that they go

someplace already infected? In his current mental state, Takato would surely be safer in the scaly arms of his parents.

Question: When will someone wake up those two snore machines Hirokazu Shiota and Kenta Kitagawa!!!?

"Yo, Guilmon. Someone mentioned bread, and you aren't dancing. Are you feeling alright?" Terriermon blinked feeling a little bit more confident now that beyond the reach of his mumbling Tamer.

"Just remembering how Takato always brought me bread, but that Takato doesn't seem to be here anymore."

"What do you mean Guilmon? I'm right here." Takatomon protested.

"No," Guilmon thoughtfully replied. "The Takato who brought me bread was a Humon. I didn't know Humons can mimic other Digimon."

"For the last time, I've always been like this!" Takatomon stomped the ground making what felt like a small earthquake..

Terriermon instantly decided another change of address was about due. Mumbling to himself, 'Nice trees around here.' he stepped back and made plans to climb the tallest one he could find if it became necessary.

"I've never been a Humon..." Takatomon continued to protest.

"Yes you have, Takato!" Jeri ran to him and threw her arms around the red dragon's neck for a second time. Not knowing what else to do, but happy for the attention of his Tamer nonetheless, he patted her back reassuringly.

"Takato, please try to remember. You are Takato Matsuda, Digimon Tamer. Try to remember school, and homework, and what things used to be like. Kept repeating that until...!" Jeri could feel tears welling up in her eyes yet again. Unbeknownst to her, the Digivice in her new attire began to emit a dull glow.

Suddenly, Lee's tiny Lopmon face lit up. He had once read a series of stories on the internet called the Silver Dawn Saga. People who had been transformed usually came back to their senses if someone could create a paradox proving they were once humon... er, human.

'Think! Think, Lee, think!'

That's it! In the story a victim remembered they were a supposed to be a human being by looking a photo of their old self. But, dang it! It wasn't like pre-teen kids had photo ID! Maybe he could do it verbally.

"Takato."

"Takatomon."

"Takato." Lee repeated firmly. "You remember wearing goggles, shorts, and your blue hood shirt right?"

"Sure." Takatomon nodded." That was before I digivolved."

Lee wanted to bang his head against a tree.

'This 'infection' was just plain thorough,' he mused.

Seeing a picture of his old self would be useless. Takato would only

rationalize it as a image of his in-training form. There had to be SOMETHING that it had overlooked! Rika had come back to herself, hadn't she? What had triggered it?! If only she was around to ask!

Lee growled long and hard in frustration. The sound was not human. Not in the least.

'If I find her I'll ask. Right after I get the cards she stole from me!'

Torn between two mental states, the human and the digital, Lee made plans to get back cards he couldn't use and digivolve his Partner into something powerful enough wreak his revenge. In effect, have Terriermon go postal on Rika for giving him such a headache!

'Not likely!' the more rational parts of his wildly spinning mind replied.

'If Rika is truly was a Renamon now, she would be impossible to find until she desired it so. And Rika, as a human or digimon, had to be the least sociable being on the planet!'

Jeri's Digivice meanwhile waited for that 'little paradox' as Lee had so properly put it to initiate the program that had (more or less) restored Rika's human ego.

Until Takato found that one detail that was dead wrong in his memories, there was nothing the tiny machine could do. The machine's dilemma was compounded by the fact that Takato was registered in its permanent memory as the Jeri's digimon.

As powerful as it was, the machine was just that: a machine. It made note of the problem, but couldn't alter its programming. Jeri's data was file locked and couldn't be altered.

However undesired by its owner, the same held true for the D-Ark's

programmed instructions to promote the bound between the 'two of a kind' it was set for.

Unable to respond to the input of raw human emotions that were its power source slash trigger, and the malfunctioning virus program corrupting its software, the D-Power fell back on its emergency failsafe.

It would not activate unless it's motivator (i.e. the Tamer the digivice was set-for) was at an absolute.

A simple desire wouldn't work. For good or ill, the user had to want the D-Arc to work with very fiber of their being. No second thoughts. No hint of indecision. The need had to so complete it over-rode the user's very sense of self with pure untainted passion.

Jeri couldn't do it. Internal wounds of the spirit she'd never shown anyone, kept her heart and mind permanently divided. It would be up to Takato to take off the digimon-colored-glasses he was seeing his memories through.

With the trademark patience of a machine, the D-Power waited on stand-by for its next instructions.

"Hi, guys! What's for breakfast?" Kazu asked roughly a second after

awakening and opening his eyes.

"Why don't you pipe down and just find some bugs lizard boy." Kenta replied just before burying his under a wing once more. "This 'naked bird' needs his sleep."

They WOULD wake up now Lee thought. At least one good thing had come of his infection. Kenta was no longer following Kazu action for action, thought for thought, trying to be his friend's clone. He just hoped Kazu could adjust to Kenta no longer just going along with the flow.

"Why don't you come over here and make me, Kentamon?" Kazu replied, his tone

dangerously serious.

'Oh no! This can't be happening! Not these two!'

Lee didn't need a crystal ball to predict what was going on before his eyes. Real World birds and lizards were natural enemies. Could digital birds and lizards be any different?

"Yea! Yea! Yea!" The bird type digimon yelled back as he worked himself into a combat frenzy.

A big... 'OH NO!!!'... was the only comment Lee could add as the two

life-long friends jumped to their feet and confronted each other face to face.

~ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Flames, comments, suggestions, reactions (good or bad), rants, praise, insults, and occasional constructive criticism are all welcome. However if you an axe to grind with a review I made e-mail me or I'll report you're abusing the review system. 

Remember, I'm only part of a group here. And we need new members if we want to keep this alive. 


	11. PreMath Two

How many here knew that the Japanese count down from a full hand?  
  
I didn't come up with the idea of Lee and Lopmon being separate awareness', that was someone else in our group.  
  
These are some things one of our authors found wrong with the last part  
  
Grettings Alex-kun, First Allomons profile, the correct abbreviation for number is No: and Soort should be sort. In the authors note you mispelled borrowed and the monster maker who was still working on the digital world is named Shibumi not Shabomi.  
Terriermon's dream are Hentai not Hetai, you misspelled de-digivolved and Takato should think of his human form as his In training (the american name for the leval before rookie) or pre rookie form not his pre- digivolved form.  
Bizarre rabbity thing should be bizarre rabbit like thing. Also Yamato was misspelled at the point that Terriermon was talking to Lee about the kind of things he reads on the net, you misspelled manga as magna and pre-teens is one word.  
I've never seen dinosaurian use before saurian on the other hand is a fairly commen adjective.  
  
I also changed some of Jeri's words in this chapter to make them more in her meek/cheerful style of speaking.  
  
Yo, readers, got a quick question for you before you read this next segment. Has reading this story made you a little bit more happy? Yes or no. Thanks.  
  
Now, for something I normally don't do, but I realize maybe it's better I do and respond pre-story to some reader's comments.  
  
Crow T R0bot: Remember to thanks Charles, he takes his job as pre-reader seriously. And sorry, but Hadesmon splattered green blood all over Growlmon in a previous chapter so in this cannon digimon do bleed. As for Rika's actions, read on and you'll see. But your scenario is more likely and will play out with Yamaki's plans -unless some beats him to it-. As for Rika's mother and grandmother, we'll do something in chapter 16 when we get past the pre-written parts. Thanks for reviewing.  
  
RayD: I don't attack. I don't flame. How many times do I need to tell people this? Writers have emotional connections to their stories (most of the good ones at least) and thus assume when I'm correction that I'm trying to attack them. As to your points, remember this used to be a chain story, still is, and thus is BOUND to have pointless events. For taking character thinking to far, in most fanfiction it's all dialogue and action, Charles seems to dislike that when editing and adds a lot of the inflection or adds to my own (Liz will be a prime example in this chapter). In this chapter I went over Jeri's words to try and get them more meek/cheerful. It's just Charles normally adds such depth to the text that I'm often reluctant to change it. Terriermon is rude, and lives to break the rules (in a safe margin of course), as said in a previous chapter, the three main digimon of 03 broke the stereo types of vaccine, virus, and data breed digimon. And I LOVE your review, just thought I should tell you, and no, I'm not being sarcastic, I wish more people reviewed like you, who aren't afraid to hurt my feelings to get their message across. Which writers do you mean? Let me talk to them so I can work things out, I don't like making enemies.  
  
(): This soon enough?  
  
Holy-Psychic-Vulpix : The link to the board where the story is produced is on my author's page, we're always looking for fresh blood.  
  
Aristide: I hope you meant in the earlier parts when we didn't pre-read, how about the later parts like this one?  
  
TJ and Rikumon: Uhm, yea, glade you liked it.  
  
nightdragon0: Glade to see someone thought it was funny. And the mental changes are what all my transformation stories are about. (And what intrigues me most about yours.)  
  
(): Thanks for the correction, too bad we've used it so much it's now cannon for the story, oh well, like I said, thanks for the heads up.  
  
gerjomarty: Well, wait no more, and again, I'm glad you thought it entertaining after RayD's review.  
  
Brett: As for the tamers being human again, it will happen, right about the end of the story, but there will be a price to pay, and it won't be like the one at the end of the TV show.  
  
Kara: Your faith has been rewarded. The fight was Charles' idea completely, I guess now we'll know weather or not it was a good idea to put it in.  
  
Light Sneasel: Glade to see you're still around. As for fireworks, it's actually going to be pretty unflashy for the next few chapters, but no less chaotic for our heroes. You know what happened to LunarMew? Anyone? Dang. I can't get over'em vanishing like that.  
  
~ ~~~~~~~~~~~~  
  
Fortunately, despite their ongoing physical transformations, Kentamon and Kazumon's digimon minds remained at the level of ten years olds; human ten year olds that is. Otherwise, if the pair had finished their gradual transformation into battle-hungry digital monsters, their confrontation might've taken another path.  
  
A potentially fatal one.  
  
Instead of giving away their presence in the park with an impressive, yet highly ineffective display of pyrotechnic combat powers, the two lifelong friends chose instead to engage in a mostly silent, but equally ineffective wrestling match on the grass.  
  
Not exactly an infrequent event, even in a friendship as strong as theirs -Before Kenta bad resigned himself to be Kazu's shadow-. Nor was it particularly entertaining to those forced to watch. That is, with one glaring exception. If truth be known, Terriermon was enjoying the unexpected change in roles immensely. It's not often that a digimon got to watch two humans trying to beat each other into a pulp. Lee's family didn't get the premium channels, and Lee flat out refused to take him to any marshal arts events.  
  
However, it wasn't more than a few minutes before he too became bored with their childish antics, Terriermon realized that he wasn't watching two humans fight each other, this was just another digi-battle minus the window dressing and fireworks. Turning towards his Tamer, Terriermon looked into beady black eyes that closely resembled his own and commented dryly, "If you ask me, Lee, any rewiring on their brains could only be an improvement. Why fight progress?"  
  
It was far too early in the morning for Lee to deal with a second helping of Terriermon's lack of tack.  
  
"Don't just stand there, big-mouth Mon. Go over there and break it up."  
  
Terriermon scratched the back of his over-sized head. "Me? They're YOUR friends.  
  
"They're Takato's friends, not mine, and they might not even remember that right now." Lee replied as Kazumon pecked Kentamon on the shoulder, and Kentamon pulled a few small feathers off Kazumon's back.  
  
"You're a digimon. They think they're digimon. Do whatever's you do back home to put a stop this kind of stuff. Keeping Takato under control is trouble enough. We don't need two more."  
  
"I hope you won't mind. This might get messy." Terriermon replied as he picked up a rock nearly as large as his head and walked with direction. Lee suddenly had the mental vision of his two friends being knocked unconscious, or worse, by a far too literal digimon.  
  
"KENTA, KAZU, LOOK OUT!"  
  
The two digivolved children jumped up in surprise and bumped heads. It would be impossible to prove the blow solely responsible for knocking them back to their senses, but, perhaps, Lee mused; it seemed his Partner might've been on the right track all along.  
  
Shaking his lizard-like head, Kazu struggled to remove his suction-cup tipped fingers from his friend's feathered neck and whispered, "We did it again. Didn't we, Kenta?"  
  
"Sure looks like it, Kazu."  
  
Seeing that the boy's skulls had been hard enough, Terriermon dismissed his own cure for the moment.  
  
Lee's big ears easily overheard the pair's conversation. After a few quick steps, and a short ear-assisted glide that barely managed to miss a few low tree branches, he was standing close enough to ask, ''What do you mean again?"  
  
Looking a bit sheepish, which is rather hard for a lizard type digimon to do, Kazu replied, "Kenta told me yesterday morning that he'd always been a digimon."  
  
Kenta ruffled his crest feathers angrily and added, "Hey! You did too, Scale face!"  
  
"But I came out of it first, Bird brain!"  
  
Lee found himself itching to pick up a rock as the pair resumed their accustomed non-stop bickering. Being next to these two, he silently realized, was living inside that a foreign film called 'Invasion of the Body Snatchers'. Could the mental part of the virus work the same way?  
  
In that old black and white movie, people had their minds replaced with those of evil alien clones as they slept.  
  
Hard as it was to believe, the human victims of this digital plague appeared to be suffering a similar fate. If what Kenta and Kazu said was true, their digivolving brains were gradually dumping whatever data a pure digimon would find most useless: in effect, their human memories.  
  
As disquieting as that thought was, some things seemed destined to remain unchanged for the foreseeable future.  
  
"So where's breakfast?" Kenta and Kazu inquired simultaneously.  
  
Terriermon jumped in. "We were actually discussing that just before you guys came to."  
  
Kazu stood up from his laying position to his own two feet, and regretted it. "Ouch! Ouch! Ouch! Gimme a minute people!" Kazu complained as he hopped in circles apparently in some pain.  
  
Reaching down he pulled his shoes and socks off to reveal feet that looked more like two huge green spiders with suction-cup tipped legs.  
  
Kazu breathed out his muzzle in relief. "That feels so much better. Those things were killing me."  
  
Kenta took this opportunity to try and make his point. "Didn't I tell you so? Go ahead, Kazu. Take off all the rest. Show us that scaly bod!"  
  
The lizard literally snapped his jaws at his best friend and yelled, "Drop dead Kenta!"  
  
Jeri couldn't have cared less about Kenta and Kazu right about then. She'd been staring into Takatomon's emotionless eyes as he looked blankly at his two old friends. There had to be some way she could get through to him. Maybe could find some clue at his home. That seemed her sole viable option.  
  
"Lee?" Jeri asked at long last. "Do you have any idea how I can move around with Takato without anyone thinking something's up?"  
  
When Lee hesitated to answer Kazu opened his big mouth.  
  
"Maybe we could all just pretend we're part of a parade."  
  
Lee fired back. "Be quiet, Kazu!"  
  
"Momentai, Lee." Terriermon said breaking into the conversation. "For all WE know 99% of the city is already infected and no one will even notice us."  
  
"This isn't fiction, Terriermon." Lee reminded his over- confident digimon Partner. "We're not stuck in a stupid video game playing the part of a rookie cop fighting his way through a city filled with zombies to rescue the beautiful industrial spy in distress."  
  
"Good for us. You'd lose. You don't even have that game on your computer."  
  
"And you won't find it there no matter how many times you download a bootleg copy. Besides, I've seen enough the mountains of fan-written drivel gamers had written to praise these types of games to know how bad they are." Lee lied through his teeth.  
  
In fact, despite his protests to the contrary, Lee had found the work of one such female author much to his liking. While he would never admit it to his digital look-a-like (he was the straight arrow of the bunch after all), but he would be eternally grateful to a net author going by the pseudonym LadyCerberus who translated her web-published work from English to Japanese.  
  
Kenta's beak clicked. "If you ask me, people who write that stuff must have holes in there heads. They've got to know they'll never make any money."  
  
Lee leaped to the defense of his on-line pen pals. "There's more to life than just cash you know."  
  
"Sure. But you've got to make a living first before you can waste it on other things."  
  
Kazu looked at his friend. "When exactly did you become a philosopher, Kenta? That's the deepest I've ever heard you think."  
  
"Deep? Seems like common sense to me."  
  
Terriermon quipped. "I prefer having uncommon sense!"  
  
What's the point of a life if that's all there is to it? Lee muttered. "You would."  
  
"You know," Calumon remarked missing the entire point of the conversation, "why don't we ask for a ride? They look kind of scary, but couldn't one of those armor-type digimon racing up and down the roads all day take us where we need to go?"  
  
Guilmon smiled, "Those things are cars, silly. And I can be a car. Watch this."  
  
Guilmon ran in a random circles making engine noises and bouncing up and down. Calumon was soon laughing his little heart out.  
  
"Maybe we can." Lee knew this was going to sound dumb, but it was worth a shot. It wasn't like anyone else had any bright ideas. "You know, we could just call our parents and ask them to pick us up."  
  
Guilmon took one look at Lee and froze. Lee had been around the digital dinosaur long enough to know what it meant. The primitive brain inside that massive skull was screaming: 'No Way!'  
  
Despite his mental shortcomings, Guilmon had a healthy respect for avoiding potentially painful or needlessly risky situation. His memory, poor as it was, could clearly recall how often unknown adults had been the source of trouble. Nor had he forgotten Terriermon's Tamer's near mental meltdown just the day before. And something about Lee's idea made his scales stand on end.  
  
Calumon, being the embodiment of childish innocence, was incapable of seeing even the most oblivious signs that he was in his own world at the moment. He continued to champion his idea long after the others turned their backs on him and continued to discuss other options.  
  
Eventually, a rather long eventually in fact, he got the hint and folded his ears dejectedly. Moaning softly he waited of the others to do something. No matter what course of action they decided to take, he'd somehow find a way to have fun. He always did. He smiled at the thought.  
  
After thinking about Lee's suggestion for a few seconds Jeri said, "That's not a bad idea. But do any of our parents own a car big enough for all of us, and are still human enough to drive. Take Takato's, even if they still fit inside, I can't see two dinosaurs driving a bakery van through Tokyo without upsetting some people." Jeri shuddered at the next part. "And then there's the really big thing. Unless we're sure they're already infected, we can't take the chance we might make anyone else catch what we have. I . . . I don't want to do that to my dad." She left how she might have already done it to her step- mom. "Uhm, why don't we forget about the car thing and just walk there after nightfall?"  
  
Ugh. Hadn't he talked about how going around at night was dangerous? But until they found an alternate idea, he had to play along. "That a good idea, but what are we going to do to pass the time until then?" Lee asked.  
  
"How about...?" Jeri announced as she lifted five claw-tipped fingers and began to count down with one from her other hand. "One: We rest here a couple hours until sunset. And I do mean rest. We don't want to sleep straight through the night. Two: We... Guilmon, Lee, and me... talk to Takato." She said looking straight at him. "About his human life until sunset. With any luck we might bring some of his old memories to the surface." She sighed. "But I'm a little afraid we'll do nothing but give him a huge headache."  
  
"I like idea number two." Lee announced as he hopped/walked closer to his digivolved friend. Standing almost near enough to touch Takato's talon-tipped toes, he looked up and said to no one. "What's the worse that can happen?"  
  
"You confuse him. He gets mad. He incinerates you." Terriermon replied in a semi-serious semi-mocking tone.  
  
"Shut up, you!" Lee fired back. Jeri crossed her arms and stared knifes into the back of Lee's head, why couldn't they stop talking about Takato as if he was dumb animal who only understood what they were saying when they were talking right at him?  
  
After taking a deep breath... Terriermon's comment had struck closer to home than what Lee wished to admit... the pint-sized former human waved a paw to get Takato's attention.  
  
"Down here, Takato!"  
  
"What Leemon want?"  
  
"That's Lee. Remember? And you're Takato. You created Guilmon. You're his Tamer."  
  
Without any hesitation, the former human turned red-scaled dinosaur replied, "Of course, Leemon. I'm a digimon. I'm a Tamer. And Jerimon is my Tamer."  
  
Oh brother... it's going to be tough to get him to remember who he really is. Lee sighed.  
  
Lee thought of something, something so simple it took a genius or a moron to think of. "Takato... how did Guilmon get born?"  
  
The question caught Takato by surprise. Unfortunately, it didn't last long. With computer like speed, the digital virus scanned its victim's memories and twisted them into something the nearly totally digivolved child had to accept as uncontestable fact.  
  
"I was lonely because I was the only one of my kind around. My D-ARK scanned my pictures of Guilmon when I first got it and created his digi-egg."  
  
Lee looked at the group as a whole.  
  
"Ahh... guys? Let's find a way to get to Takato's place. Now." And with hope not giving anyone else a new set of claws, fur, or scales.  
  
_______________________________________  
  
Meanwhile, far away in the Katou household, Masahiko 'Max' Katou, was standing before a bathroom mirror wearing nothing but his underwear. Jeri's little brother was eagerly looking for any signs that he was changing like his best friend Joe, or Joe's older sister Yukiko. Both had awoken after a restful sleep to find themselves covered in white scales, and sporting a long ground-dragging muscular tail.  
  
As to be expected of a young child, Max had only one comment to make upon hearing the news: Cool!  
  
Had he known what the outward changes signified, or had the slightest inkling of how permanent they would be; his opinion would likely have been vastly different. But, for now, he was overjoyed to finally discover the first signs of his transformation.  
  
There was no doubt about it. His ears were pointier; his eyes a little larger, his hair a pale florescent yellowish-orange -or was that fur?-, and a small bump at the base of his spine clearly the beginnings of a tail. Max grinned at the change showing off his impressive canines. It was like a dream come true.  
  
_______________________________________  
  
Usagimon knew any minute now she was going to wake up and this horrible nightmare would be over. She would get up. Get her notes. Go to work. And do her best not to join the rookies in daydreaming about Friday's field trip.  
  
As the champion-in-charge, Usagimon knew their trip wouldn't be all fun and games. She was bound to spend most of the day yelling at her class. Even in her sleep she could hear herself now: Don't touch that! Don't eat that! Don't get lost! Don't fight!  
  
She'd love to battle and upload the moronic digimon who thought taking a bunch of rowdy children into a National park was a good idea. This particular bunch of rookies-in-training would likely to freeze/blow/knock/burn the place down with their half learned attacks no matter what she did.  
  
As the veteran of many such trips, she knew the inevitable was bound to happen. Just as in every trip before, one of the children was certain to find a tree covered in 'cool looking' mold and come back smeared head to toe in the disgusting stuff. The endless 'a fungus among us' jokes would surely give her a migraine for the rest of their stay. It'd be a miracle if she got to sunbathe for even ten minutes between one small catastrophe and the next to follow, making her enjoy those ten minutes all the more.  
  
And, all things considered, going out of her mind in the mountains would be a slice of paradise in comparison to her current circumstances. Being held incommunicado at her place of work by a horde of insane government agents wasn't exactly a refreshing trip to Maui.  
  
Not by a long shot.  
  
Nor was her sanity the only one in danger. Usagimon was certain the humons running this place were nuts. She only had to think back on the strange questions they kept throwing at her for proof of that.  
  
Forget nuts. These characters were well past that point. They were all out crazy and doing their best to drive her and her students insane too.  
  
Not only had they imprisoned her entire class and a few others, they refused to let her use a phone to call the children's parents. By now their families probably thought SHE had something to do with their disappearance.  
  
Just over twenty-four hours before her life had been normal, boring, but normal. She'd do her job as best she could while bitterly complaining how she, Usagimon, had become nothing but an infinitesimally small gear in the ever-growing yet functional Japanese educational system.  
  
How she missed that life.  
  
As things stood now, it was rather unlikely she'd survive another day like yesterday and return to her old like in one piece.  
  
Not only had they put her through the most brutal medical examination imaginable without her permission, they'd even messed with her clothing while she was stripped down to her bare fur and attached to a room full of beeping machines. It made no sense. Why would they make her dress clearly a size larger than she remembered?  
  
These people obviously didn't know the first thing about digimon biology. She almost felt like she had been raped. Usagimon could only imagine what horrible mental scars this situation was going to leave on the poor kids.  
  
If only that female reporter and her half Gururumon cameraman had been more discreet. Maybe then all these psychos in the biohazard suits might've not taken an taken an ordinary situation... and what could be more ordinary than a class full of rookies being taught by a Champion-level teacher... and turned it into a bad episode of the X-Files?  
  
Forget that. It was more like the Men in Black. Usagimon hadn't seen so much black leather clothing in her life. Nor were they any more cheerful looking than the actors in that American movie.  
  
Once, shortly after her arrival, she used her Gatomon hearing to eavesdrop on a conversation between these shadow government wannabes and a crew of space-suited biohazard people. Little of it made any sense to her. But she did pick up one word over and over: Hypnos.  
  
As difficult as the situation was, things could be worse. At least she was still in one piece. This was more than she could say for the News van these crazy people had confiscated and disassembled. She was still unsure what they where looking for, if anything. For all she knew they'd destroyed the van and its electronic contents for the fun of it.  
  
There was one bright note in all of this. At least some of her students had escaped this hideous situation, although, frankly, they'd still have some explaining to do before their unauthorized absence became part of their permanent records.  
  
By her mental count five children... Kazumon, Kentamon, Jerimon, Takatomon, and a Lopmon she'd heard was named Leemon... had cut class yesterday and were probably safe with their families.  
  
Scratch the permanent record thought. Usagimon promised to give those children medals. If only she had had the foresight to follow their example. She felt so foolish. Why had she allowed her ingrained Japanese conditioning to obey authority figures get her into this mess? Why were they treating her like a ... what?  
  
That last question was shared by most of her captors. They too were wondering 'what' she was. With any luck, that question would remained unanswered. If not, the end result could be grim indeed.  
  
No question about it. Every history book in the world was clear on this point. Humans destroy what they fear. And what could be more fear inspiring than an unknown 'something' that steals minds and bodies? An unknown that seems hell bent on wiping out the human race and substituting it with... what?  
  
That question preoccupied the minds of Usagimon's captors. Fortunately for her well-being, those same minds had a more pressing problem to worry about.  
  
"HOW many infected kids got out?"  
  
The containment director was extremely unhappy. The tally had come up short. The total number of children they'd rounded up was somewhat shorter than those enumerated on the official school attendance rooster.  
  
"We've counted at least seven." An underling wearing a bright yellow biohazard suit replied to his similarly garbed superior. "Apparently they slipped out while the set-up crew was taking a break. Don't ask me how they got over that wall. Maybe they grew wings and flew away?"  
  
"If this was any other time or place I'd say that was crazy, but right now it falls well in the range of a real possibility." The unhappy director replied looking even less happy than before.  
  
If even one of the victims had grown functional wings, who knew how far and fast this . . . infection could spread? Was containment already a dead issue? 'Will I be blamed?' The older man asked himself silently.  
  
The chief Hypnos agent inside the room looked ready to blow a gasket (metaphorically speaking).  
  
"This is unacceptable!" the black-garbed man screamed through his suit's plastic visor. "Those things have to be retrieved at once. The last thing we need is this infection to spread any further!"  
  
Even in a plastic tent filled with identical biohazard suited people, the agent stood out. All of them did. Whereas most of the medical personal present wore their heavy protective suits with no apparent discomfort, the Hypnos agents constantly fidgeted and tried to scratch themselves through the heavy plastic.  
  
Their boss was no exception.  
  
'What's with these jokers and the black suits? Are they glued on?' The unnamed medical superior speculated idly as he locked eyes with the other man. 'They're lucky all the teachers and kids we've rounded up fit inside the big tent. If we had to do any of the examinations outside in the hot sun, they'd be dropping like flies from heatstroke inside their protective gear... as if my people need more patients to deal with.'  
  
"Where do you get off calling them... things? They're plague victims, not aliens from outer space."  
  
"Do you want this infection to spread all over Japan?"  
  
Realizing his future as a very well-paid government physician could be in jeopardy if he said the wrong thing like ... 'Patients have rights no matter if they're covered in fur or scales' ... for example, the other man wisely decided to remain silent. Besides, there was little room for human sympathy in his line of work. The diseases he fought against had far less.  
  
"How's containment going at that private school?" The Hypnos agent asked changing the subject seeing he had shut the other man up.  
  
"Tight as a drum. Nothing goes in. Nothing comes out. No escapes."  
  
"At least something is going right."  
  
'There's at least one positive factor in our favor. These nutcases don't like each other.' Usagimon thought as she listening in as the agent and squad members verbally spared against each other. 'It's a shame so much of what they're saying is either legal or technical mumbo- jumbo.'  
  
As if she needed more stress, one of the kids chose that moment to have a breakdown. Screaming hysterically for his parents, a small boy clothed in nothing more than blue feathers held onto her and cried out for his 'mom-mon'. Only minutes before one of the masked humons in the yellow plastic suits had yanked several feathers off his tail for 'examination'.  
  
Usagimon was only seconds away from a breakdown of her own. She wasn't trained to handle stuff like this. In truth, the stern uncaring façade she wore at school was a shame. She cared deeply for the welfare of every single child in her class, as if they was her own. How else could she put in such long hours for a career that was regarded so little by others?  
  
And now her beloved children were being treated like lab rats!  
  
She'd never felt so helpless in her life. Sitting on the slippery plastic sheet that covered the ground, she waited for the crying rookie to burn himself out. She knew it was stupid and cliché, but clichés were clichés for a reason. She hugged him. She hugged him and lied. "Everything well is all right. Mom-mon will be here soon."  
  
Liz the reporter lady... or Liz the former reporter lady as she had come to refer to herself as when thinking about her chances of ever working in the news media again... sat nearby wishing there was someone to hold her and whisper comforting lies into her ears too -Neko was too busy mourning his camera-; as if she hadn't been living one for years.  
  
She wasn't Japanese by birth, but by migration. If not for the stereotype that all Americans were blue eyed and blond haired, her black hair and mildly tanned skin wouldn't have sufficient to keep the deception... and her job... going.  
  
Regardless of her appearance, Liz couldn't change how she felt inside, or how she reacted to people and events around her.  
  
A Japanese born and raised reporter would've rolled over and played dead the moment the HAZMAT crew showed up. And after the socially inexcusable stunt she'd pulled, (airing the unfiltered truth to an unprepared public) that same reporter would've slinked away in shame and withdrawn forever from the news business.  
  
'I'll be lucky if they even let me quit.' Liz mused despondently as she speculated on her odds of keeping her present job, let alone continuing a successful career in her chosen field of employment.  
  
Her van... her very, very expensive van... was a total loss. Her boss would probably make her sweep floors and empty waste bins until he could take its replacement cost out of her paycheck.  
  
The one bright spot in all this mess was her cameraman, Neko. As far as her soon-to-be ex-employers were concerned, he had the same amount of freewill as his video equipment. If they ever got out of here alive, they'd probably send him back with a new camera to film this horror show.  
  
Full of youthful enthusiasm, Liz had traveled overseas humming 'I want to change the world'. Reality hit moments after her plane landed and her first prospective employer caught sight of her conservative female business suit. Or, at least, what she'd thought was a conservative business suit.  
  
He'd acted like Liz had shown up for the interview naked speaking Swedish.  
  
The interview lasted less than ten minutes.  
  
With the oh-so-respectful Japanese manners she'd soon come to hate, he wished her well and left without explanation. He didn't have to. It was written all over his face: NOT ONE OF US!!  
  
If not for the sizable nest egg her parents had given her, it was doubtful she would've survived long enough to get rid of her American accent, and buy clothing forty years out of date back home.  
  
If only she had that money now.  
  
With the sizeable dent paying off the van would make in her paycheck, she'd likely have trouble meeting her monthly rent let alone having enough to feed herself. Perhaps it'd be best if she joined all the poor kids on the missing persons' report. At least these crazy people running this place would have to feed her.  
  
Pop always said my big mouth made me perfect for the career I'd chosen. Now it seemed what her greatest asset might get her killed. Was getting the truth out worth dying for?  
  
Yes. She reflected. No matter what happens. It was worth it.  
  
Running her hands through her hair, Liz sighed in a slightly frustrated tone. Self-pity wasn't like her. Full steam ahead was more her style. Quitting was out of the question.  
  
Rising from her uncomfortable seat on the ground, she turned around and muttered; "Now where did my cameramon wander off to?"  
  
Stunned by the nonsense word that'd just passed her lips, Liz shook her head in confusion and muttered even louder, "Where the heck did 'that' come from? And why does it sound right? Never mind. There's work to be done."  
  
While waving a hand to get her 'cameraman's' attention... she had to struggle to even think the correct word... she called out, "C'mon. Let's see if this bunch of dime store M.I.B's are willing to let us go yet."  
  
As they left neither noticed the dark blond roots of Liz's hair or the bluish tint her skin was beginning to develop.  
  
- --------------------------------  
  
Lee's mother, who was now only slightly more human than Ms. Usagi had been the previous morning, was worrying herself sick thinking about her children. She had hardly slept the night before as she waited by the front door for her younger mon to return home. The word mon had nearly finished superseding that of child in her infection ravaged mind. Soon the other word would be meaningless.  
  
As she picked absentmindedly at her breakfast her still human husband and mostly human elder daughter tried to cheer her up by reminding her of Lee(mon)'s skill at martial arts, his high intelligence, and the fact that it was almost impossible to carry a gun or large weapon in Japan.  
  
"After all," Lee's older sister Karin assured while scratching at some of the white fur that now covered her "this isn't Amerika where any idiot can buy high powered weapons and shoot school children." Karin had recently seen Michael Moors' Bowling for Columbine documentary and been deeply affected by the movie.  
  
Watching his wife's change in behavior, Mr. Wong was grateful his eldest child left town the week before for a job interview. What kind of home 'Richie' would find on his return to was anyone's guess. With luck things would be cleared up by the time the teenager got home.  
  
Failing that, and if that little peep on the news last night was to be believed, the entire district would likely be under quarantine in a matter of days if not hours. Mr. Wong prayed his son had the common sense to stay away. 'Not likely' a small voice in the back of his mind replied.  
  
Upon awakening this morning, Mr. Wong had immediately phoned his employers and called in sick. He had no choice. There was no way he'd let his family leave the house looking as they did. For their safety, as well those they would surely come in contact with out there, he had to do his best to keep his family from spreading 'it' further.  
  
Looking like they did, there was no chance they'd be able to pass unnoticed. They were sure to be taken into custody and detained 'for their own safety' as the government liked to say.  
  
As of now, only he, the master computer programmer, remained unchanged; if the full length mirror in the bathroom was to be believed -which he had doubts about-.  
  
'It's not like the mirror would show what's going on inside.' Mr. Wong pondered darkly as he twisted from side to side trying to check his spine for fur, scales, or feathers. 'Or would I even notice something if I saw it?'  
  
The woman he'd fallen in love with and married barely noticed her ongoing mutation, or that of their daughter, Suzie. At first he'd thought it was just her way of putting on a brave face to cope with a terrifying situation. Now he knew better.  
  
Only an hour before he'd heard his wife refer to their daughter as Suziemon. All of his subsequent attempts to correct her error had meet with a blank and disbelieving stare. Something... something vital at the very core of her being... had changed. Would he look into the mirror tomorrow and find the eyes of a stranger staring back at him and not even realize it? At least it was a painless way to go.  
  
Logical to the end... he worked with computers after all... Mr. Wong flexed his biceps and remarked 'Looking good!' while comparing his reflected image to a photo his wife had recently taken of him at the beach.  
  
Sighing deeply a second later, he added, "If nothing else, there's nothing wrong with my human ego."  
  
Sighing softly yet again, Mr. Wong began to worry once more about those closest to his heart. Were Suzie and 'Karin' going to go through the same mental reprogramming that was slowly overwhelming the kind and caring woman he'd married? As of now, Jaarin and Shuichon didn't seem to be acting different. But was that true? Could he even trust his own thoughts to make judgments like that? Better yet, were these thoughts even his?  
  
Shouldn't he be bouncing of the walls in a blind panic about now? He certainly was taking the shock of his family turning into Digimon rather calmly. Was that normal human behavior? Might it have something to do with his past?  
  
Only he, among a handful of other computer programmers, knew that digimon were the end result of the most ambitious, and successful, human attempt to create artificial intelligence ever attempted.  
  
Even to this day, he had no idea why their unnamed financial backers inexplicably pulled the plug on the project at its height, or how the images of their creations wound up on countless playing cards, and an equally uncountable number of computer games sold to children.  
  
Still, whatever had caused this 'infection' in the first place wasn't like anything he had programmed; assuming it was computer driven at all. This was the real world. Not the insides of a hard drive. The idea of tiny robots was not outside the realm of possibility after everything that was going on.  
  
How else could the insane randomness of the unbelievable transformations be explained?  
  
Resisting the urge to put his fist through the mirror, he closed his eyes and concentrated with all of his strength.  
  
"If only I had more information!" Mr. Wong shouted out loud in anger.  
  
Talking more softly he added, "If this mess is the product of random chance that means there aren't any rules to play by, and thus no guarantee there's a way to win. On the other hand, if this was created on purpose there might be even less of a chance of finding a solution. However insane or inept, any mind brilliant enough to create something like this would surely inserted safeguards to avoid tampering. Either way, my family is doomed."  
  
A moment later the bathroom was filled with a very human cry of utter anger, frustration and grief. Only the feelings for his family kept him from turning the bathroom inside out.  
  
_______________________________________  
  
"I don't need a nameless flunky in a bio-suit giving me orders! If he thinks he's better qualified than I to make medical decisions, Yamaki can climb into a suit and treat these people himself!" Doctor Hiroshi shouted angrily at a Hypnos agent.  
  
Holding his own anger in check, the man replied, "Our project director has recently decided to make the majority of his orders via phone. I don't ask why."  
  
Even if he'd wanted to, Yamaki couldn't have granted the doctor's request. Simply put, no one makes bio-suits suitable for gigantic long- tailed reptilian monsters. Nor would the once-human director of Project Hypnos have donned such a suit even if one were available.  
  
The plastic covering would have chafed his thick ebony-hued scale-covered hide to no end, and he enjoyed the functional utility of his razor-sharp hand and feet claws. Having to remove his boots or gloves every time he wanted to destroy something, or someone, would be such a bother.  
  
While he pondered that thought the phone rang. Growling in anger, Yamaki prepared to communicate with yet another useless underling that couldn't tie his shoes without help.  
  
Having to micromanage things for a distance was beginning to wear on Yamaki's mutated nerves. It would only be a matter of time before he totally destroyed his apartment in yet another fit of anger, or was forced to demand a face to face meeting with the supervisor in charge over there. Once he ate that incompetent's face off, the next underling in line for a promotion would likely have the incentive to do his job and not bother him for some time to come.  
  
His instincts drooling slightly at the thought of fresh meat, Yamaki looked down tenderly... as tenderly as a terror dragon could... at the fully digivolved Rileymon sleeping quietly several feet away.  
  
The female digimon was one of the bright spots in his new existence. He greatly valued her increasingly unquestioning and highly capable assistance in all matters that required the use of his laptop, and the new day-to-day trivia of providing sustenance.  
  
That's not to say that their co-habitation arrangements hadn't gone through some rough times in the beginning. The most prominent of which was their never ending argument over Yamaki's dietary requirements... meat, meat, and more meat... and Rileymon's insistence that he stop attracting unwanted attention by flying around at night breaking into stores when the last delivery was late. She simply couldn't believe him.  
  
On their second full day together, Rileymon put her foot... paw?... down and got her way after an hour long verbal battle. Finding no fault in her logic, Yamaki grudgingly permitted her to arrange less destructive food deliveries from several nearby butcher shops, and promised to follow the exercise regimen she'd laid out for him.  
  
His monumental pride, unchanged by his transformation into an evil digital monster, was still deeply bruised. The fact that her argument couldn't be disproved only made it worse. Left to his own devices, he'd soon be too fat to get off the ground.  
  
Sighing deeply, Yamaki fought to keep his hunger in check as he stripped the flesh off a small... extra lean... pig. In a few seconds it would be gone. Then, and only then, would he answer the ringing phone and deal with yet another incompetent fool on Project Hypno's payroll.  
  
_______________________________________  
  
A similar sound was filled the ears of a certain purple devil. Unfortunately, it wasn't the kind of sound that could be stopped simply by picking up a phone receiver. As Impmon knew far to well, the aftereffects of getting audibly hammered by fruit cart vendors generally last a while. A painful fact that he'd been complaining non-stop for nearly an hour.  
  
"Dose guys gimmie no respect!" he mumbled while jumping from one street lamp to another. "Just youse wait until I digivolve! I'll be so strong, I'll really do somethin' bad to 'em!"  
  
Plopping to the ground in exhaustion, Impmon rested out of sight in a alley between two warehouses. Eventually the roaring sound faded away to a dull throb. His curse laden complaining didn't fade one bit. If anything, it grew louder.  
  
"Ah, who am I kiddin'? I can't Digivolve 'cause I don't got a slaver pullin' my strings." He rested his head in his hands. "It's better this way anywho! I'm a free mon, not likes..."  
  
"Pepper Breath!"  
  
Impmon never got to finish his last sentence. Without warning... few people would consider the digimon custom of naming an attack and launching it a nano-second later either fair or adequate... a large yellow fireball struck him dead-center and tumbled him down the alley like a bowling pin.  
  
After coming to a sudden jarring stop against a brick wall, Impmon jumped to his feet and yelled in anger, "Grrrrr... whose did dat!?"  
  
Giggling hysterically, an yellow mini-t-rex Agumon and a dark gray bipedal hare Gazimon caught his attention in the alley. Both were slightly taller than him, and, from the self- confident smiles on their faces, they obviously considered Impmon no threat.  
  
"This is our territory, purple wuss! No outsiders allowed!" the Agumon shouted while swinging a claw in a wide circle. The exact dimension of their territory was unclear, but Impmon was apparently standing in the direct center of it.  
  
"This ain't nobody's territory! Least of all two losers like youse freaks!" Impmon shouted back. Needless to say, diplomacy wasn't one of the purple devil's strong points. And, if recent events where any guide, common sense came in a distant second.  
  
The Gazimon and Agumon exchanged an amused glance.  
  
"Ok then, we'll kick you out by force!" The Gazimon fell smoothly into a cliche fighting stance on his oversized feet. His partner followed a fraction of a second later. Even the dimmest digimon rookie ever hatched would've known instinctively not to gamble in a two against one fight not in their favor when they had already just been knocked for a loop. Unfortunately, when it came to making bad choices, Impmon was in a class all of his own.  
  
"Let's rumble!!" The eggplant-hued digimon replied as he created a swirling tunnel and summoned his most powerful attack, the dark fireball: "Night of Fire!!"  
  
-9.3 seconds later-  
  
"And stay out..." the Agumon shouted as he heaved a semi- conscious Impmon onto the street. Strangely the idea of humiliating others more gratifying than a fresh batch of data. Adding insult to injury... and Impmon had quite a few new ones... the Gazimon finished his companion's sentence with a "... you loser!". Neither digimon bothered to look back as they turned and calmly walked away.  
  
Impmon struggled and eventually got onto his feet.  
  
"Yeah! Youse better run! This ain't over! You wait 'till I..." That's as far as he got. Impmon collapsed onto his back. Luckily for those in charge of cleaning the road, there was no vehicle traffic at that particular moment. Otherwise, they might've had to contend with a large sticky purple mess the next time they came by -if digimon left remains-.  
  
"Why's me? What'd I ever do to deserve this?"  
  
The sky overhead did not answer, but a rapidly approaching roar almost made the question the last he ever made. Cursing loudly, Impmon rolled into the welcoming gutter to escape the wheels of a delivery truck.  
  
If one thought escaping death by inches would be enough to stop his bellyaching, they'd be dead wrong, "Where are all these new Digimon comin' from, anyways? What, there more Slavers now!? There's one thing the world don' need! Bada-boom!"  
  
The little devil crawled onto the sidewalk and eventually found the energy to bound away even angrier than before. Someone was gonna pay for this latest humiliation, and who better than that bunch of kids who'd annoyed him so often in the past.  
  
The Agumon and Gazimon patted themselves on the back for a job well done. That digimon hadn't been worth their time, but a victory was a victory. Who cared that neither of them could remember any further back than yesterday when they'd awoken next to a lion human/digimon hybrid? The only thing that really mattered was winning battles seeing other shrink with their egos broken.  
  
"Hello there." A female, yet oddly emotionless voice called out from behind them. "Wanna play?"  
  
The pair turned to see a young Renamon with violet eyes looking at them coldly. The fox shifted from one hind paw to the next and dropped into a picture-perfect attack stance.  
  
Their egos built up from beating the snot out of Impmon, the two digimon followed their basic instincts and raced forward without a second thought. They really had no choice. Until a digimon gained the maturity and experience needed, basic programming rules applied. And the most basic of these was to attack any unknown digimon on sight.  
  
With little apparent effort, the Renamon jumped and somersaulted over their heads and landed feather-light on one three clawed-toed paw. Spinning on the same paw with blinding speed, the child-size kitesune threw a kick that broke the Agumon's right arm.  
  
As the Agumon fell back in agony, the Gazimon took a deep breath and charged straight at their yellow furred attacker. It would be his last. A second later he stumbled backwards after a lighting-fast fist crashed into his throat. He couldn't breath. His windpipe had been crushed flat. His neck bones likewise shattered by three unbelievably strong clawed fingers. Literally dead on his feet, the Gazimon felt himself becoming a part of someone else as his body rapidly broke apart.  
  
The young kitesune breathed deeply. Shaking from the rush, she tried to absorb every byte of the glowing data swirling around her. Losing even the tiniest piece was unthinkable. Never in her life had she ever felt so good... so powerful!  
  
No wonder, Rika thought as wave after wave of pure pleasure shook her digivolved body, some digimon act like crazed junkies looking for their next fix. This is incredible!  
  
In all her short life, the human turned digital kitsune had never known anything so thrilling or stimulating. Like music to her ears, she enjoyed hearing the second death cry her victim made during the absorption process. A process wherein a loser's data was irrevocably assimilated into the victor's source code, and thus denied even the slightest chance of being recompiled as themselves at a future date.  
  
There would be no reincarnation. No return. Only death. Eternal.  
  
Even as the defeated Gazimon's data bonded permanently with hers, Rika's reprogrammed mind was comforted by instincts as old as digimon kind.  
  
Combat is good.  
  
Combat is life.  
  
Fights to the death were as natural to a digimon as breathing. Deep down, all digital monsters understood the inescapable truth of this statement. Despite self-delusional protests to the contrary, endless combat was a fact of digital life... and death.  
  
Rika, or rather, the youthful kitsuse that'd taken her place, felt the data rushing into her body and smiled. All was well in the world. Hunger pangs that'd bothered since awakening abated somewhat as her energy reserves approached nominal levels.  
  
Her first kill.  
  
She wanted more.  
  
And seeing the injured Augmon backing away with terror-filled eyes, she knew exactly where to get it.  
  
Outside the perception range of the promising, if deceptively inexperienced kitesune's senses, stood a taller and far more developed female Renamon. Using senses more honed than those of her younger look-a- like, she dispassionately followed each fight to their predictable endings.  
  
As a full-blooded adult digimon, Renamom had been victorious in far too many battles to shed a tear over the dead Gazimon, or the Augmon soon to join him in oblivion. A creature of her upbringing, Renamon was more likely to admonish her surrogate daughter for excessively flashy fight moves than to suffer angst pangs over her actions.  
  
Intellectually, Renamon knew Rika wasn't a real digimon; she simply had the body of one right now. In spite of her self-made promise not to do so, Renamon couldn't avoid comparing Rika to her dead daughter, Reremon. Reremon's first solo-kill had truly been a sight to behold. Even now, many years after her only child's death in a ill-chosen battle, Renemon still felt a digi-mother's pride when she thought back on that faraway day.  
  
As conflicting emotions fought within her, Renamon watched the one-sided contest and wondered what side of Rika's personality was currently in control.  
  
Programmed instincts aside, digimon were still likely to display considerable humor during even the grimmest battle. Jokes and insults generally filled the gaps between physical blows and demonstrations of unbelievably weird attack powers.  
  
Rika was no Reremon.  
  
After watching the silent and stone-faced Rika tear her opponents apart, Renamon was forced to come to the only conclusion that made sense: Human.  
  
Renamon had taken the combat instincts she was born with, and refined them to a level of purity few digimon would ever reach. As a realist, she wouldn't waste a single breath denying her true nature. Killing was simply something digital monsters had to do. Taking pleasure by inflicting needless pain was alien to her. As the last sparkling fragment of the defeated Agumon seeped into Rika's digivolved body, Renamon had only one question to ask.  
  
Why did humans name... us... monsters?  
  
To be continued . . .  
  
~~ ~~~  
  
Free candy to those who know who LadyCerberus is.  
  
We've written the next four parts in advance, but I'll try to address OOC actions in parts after that.  
  
Flames, rants, reviews: good or bad, comments, reactions, praise, insults, denouement,suggestions on what should happen next (very welcome), insults, kind words, and occasional constructive criticism all welcome.  
  
Please just don't write 'MORE!' It leaves me feeling empty and uninspired.  
  
And if you want to just insult ME, do it over e-mail, I keep it public for a reason. That goes double for any reactions you had to any of MY reviews!  
  
And please spare me any 'four letter words' in your flames, they make you look bad, not me.  
  
Has reading this story made you a little bit more happy? Yes or no. Thanks. We'll have the next part out in no time flat, trust me on this one. 


	12. PreMath Three

Guess what? This is my FIRST story to EVER get 100 reviews! Yippe! And I could never done it without YOU! The readers. Also, you won't believe it, but a certain multi-platform video game is coming out on my birthday next year. Yea. "Here we go!"  
  
I know these chapters are slow on main events, but they used to be one chapter and I realized it would take months for it to be completed, so I'm giving them to you as is in smaller parts.  
  
This used to be at the end of the last chapter, but I realized it fit better here at the start of this chapter.  
  
Am I imagining things or did I not get as many reviews as last time?  
  
90% of this chapter is completely Charles' original writing, so give credit where credit is due.  
  
Charles originally had 'black shorts' for Jeri's attire, but in previous chapter we had her wearing jeans from Lee's stash so we have to go with that.  
  
Small details cannons is nasty in this epic stories. I should have listened to my dad and written some short stories instead. So people, if you see me making any cannon mistakes, PLEASE tell me!  
  
Hats off to the cardcaptor fanfiction 'Stranger in a Strange Land' the best alternate ending ever written.  
  
Charles has Lee's age here at 13.  
  
How much have I been repeating myself?  
  
At first it was, 'call us monsters.' I felt 'named us monsters' would have more impact.  
  
One of our writers objected to a plot device here, however, in V-Tamers, a digimon thinks 'If I use anymore energy I'll die' when he's about to attack.  
  
I know nothing really happens in this or the next chapter (except right at the end), but these used to be one chapter after all.  
  
I've again tried to change the dialogue here to make it more in character. Give me tips if you want.  
  
Crow T R0bot : Sorry, the blood was green because Hadesmon was a fallen angel type, not due to his original digimon status. And there's the God Mega of Center Huanglongmon, who can be your digimon's equal. And though I haven't had it be offical yet, it's 'this infection' not 'the plague.'  
  
waynemon: Just keep reviewing and remember that focus is the mother of success.  
  
nightdragon0: Ruki and Renamon won't be around again until chapter 14, sorry, I'm the only one in the group who ever writers here. South sector digimon seem to have the desire to fight programmed into them, but they can break it under some circumstances. (which will shown in chapter 15 likely.) Rika and Renamon's relationship isn't done 'evolving' yet so no worries.  
  
mad-man : Well, maybe next time.  
  
gerjomarty: Thank you so much. It's mental changes that I live for and I'm glade it's reflected here and that other people are picking up on it and enjoying it. If mental changes aren't involved, I don't care for the story. This story is FAR from done, and thanks, it's good to know I've made someone slightly more happy with this. And I'm glade someone appreciates the mental side of this story.  
  
deranged black kitten of doom: Maybe too long. Look how long it was between nine and ten.  
  
eliana: This soon enough?  
  
LIlMako17: Thanks. This more enough? You busy writing right now?  
  
Light Sneasel: I was waiting for your review. I've just realized how stead fast you are in reading my stories. And right now this infection is limited to Tokyo.  
  
~ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
  
Brainstorming is the term most commonly used when a group of people come together to solve a problem by examining all available options. As far as Lee was concerned, a light summer shower best described what the digivolved children, and their digimon partners, had been engaged in since Lee's declaration and the realization none of them had a cell phone to call their families for a free ride.  
  
"For the last time... WE CAN'T CALL A CAB, KAZU!!" Lee yelled upwards at a green-scaled figure clinging upside-down to tree limb. The boy had explained that he just didn't feel comfortable sitting on the ground.  
  
"What about...?" A clicking voice called from atop yet another tree branch several yards away before Lee cut it off mid-sentence. An owlmon's talons were just meant for gripping and the grass made for a poor hold. But the chilling thing was that that neither digimon felt disturbed by this.  
  
"That goes double for a bus, Kenta. Come on everyone. Takato's house isn't that far away. There's got to be a way to get there without getting picked up by the police." Or men in black. Or a hazard crew. Or attacked by a random digimon.  
  
At the mention of his abbreviated name, the red hued dinosaur paused in yet another impromptu wrestling match with his look-a-like digimon partner and said, "What about my idea, Leemon?" Takatomon thought it would be a good idea if they all just walked there in a straight line not caring whom they breathed on.  
  
Lee sighed deeply and hung his head low. He sighed even deeper when his eyes reminded him how vertically challenged he'd become. Being shorter in stature than his little sister was something he'd yet to get use to.  
  
"Four... five... six... err Takato-err,mon?" Lee replied as he finished counting his tiny furry toes in a nearly futile attempt to regain his usually mild-mannered composure.  
  
"Yes, Leemon?"  
  
"Just Lee. You promised not to a call me Leemon or Mon anymore. Remember?"  
  
"Okay, Just Lee. Ouch!" Takatomon spun his large reptilian head around to find Guilmon's jaws clamped onto the tip of his tail.  
  
Growling softly in mock anger, Takatomon yanked it free and swats the grinning scaly digimon with the same heavy muscular appendage returning to their friendly battle.  
  
As his friends and fellow plague victims continued to debate their travel options, Lee stood back and silently watched. Would anything they decided to do really matter in the end? Was it already too late?  
  
Sighing deeply, Lee turned towards the slightly taller of the two dinosaurs. As much as he hated admitting the truth, it was plainly obvious that Takato's mental state was bad and rapidly getting worse. Lee refused to think it had already hit rock bottom.  
  
Unless awoken by a major traumatic event...assuming an unaltered backup copy even existed inside that huge saurian skull... his human memories had been totally supplanted by a digimon version of them complete with instincts and behavior programming. In computer terms, Takato's human Operating System was at the end of a total upgrade.  
  
Something had to be done about this situation soon. It was becoming increasingly apparent to everyone that Takato... the human Takato that was... would not even exists as dimly recalled memories much longer in the minds of his friends.  
  
Could he, Henry Lee Wong, be far behind? Was he behind? What about the others? Except for Jeri, the other former-humans seemed oblivious to the behavior alterations that accompanied the gradual progression of their physical transformations.  
  
Takato's current condition, as mentioned before, was the most pronounced. Not only did he look physically like a slightly older version his fun- loving red-scaled dinosaurian Partner, his mental state was practically identical. For all intents and purposes he was a digimon, and his growing over- protective slow-witted animal-like attachment to Jeri was becoming, in a word, disturbing.  
  
As for Kenta and Kazu, they were stuck somewhere in between. Both still had clear memories of their former human lives, but neither seemed perturbed in the slightest to find themselves turned roughly halfway into digimon as they had before.  
  
Case in point: While Lee and the others had spent much of the previous evening on the ground debating their next course of action, the feathered and scaly duo had crawled and flown about the nearby trees eating every creepy-crawly in sight to tide them over while they fought out their card duels.  
  
And what a sight they were.  
  
After only a few hours of foraging, Kenta had taken on the appearance of a feathered balloon with wings. How glass' boy had gotten back to normal by morning was a total mystery to Lee. He couldn't even begin to guess how a Digimon digestive tract could manage such a feat.  
  
Kazu was even worse. Nothing even remotely edible within reach of his two yard-long tongue had a chance. On the other hand, unlike Kenta, Kazu had held onto his modesty. Except for a large hole in the seat of his pants where a scaly lizard-like tail had at long long last torn through, and feet no human-made shoes would ever fit, he was still clothed as normal.  
  
The previously mentioned whip-like tail was easily as long and heavy as either of his legs. If its current rate of growth remained unchanged, it would only be a matter of time before he had to curl it backwards chameleon-like, or drag it on the ground behind him.  
  
Jeri still, with a little effort, could pass for a human being. As long as she kept her lion's tail tucked away, and avoided brightly lit places, a casual observer was unlikely to notice her clawed fingers. How long she'd remain the least mutated of the group was anyone's guess.  
  
"Which brings the list down to me," Lee began to whisper in a fatalistic tone. Former thirteen year old turned dime-store novelty item. Staple a price tag on me and I'd look right at home among any of Suzie's collection of stuffed dolls.  
  
Is that my future? A toy? Or, will my fate be even worse? Will I ultimately evolve into something that endangers everyone around me? Will the inherent digimon urge to grow stronger through constant battling take control and force me to seek out a human Tamer?  
  
And what will I become? Like I told Jeri, I've never had Lopmon in my deck. And I don't know its digivolution line. Maybe I'll become another Gargomon, a brown one?  
  
When I think about it, it's rather funny. Only a few months ago I was blubbering like a baby because I thought I'd gotten a character in a computer game hurt, of course, that was after I found out he was a self aware creature that could live and die as much as me.  
  
My body is long gone, but what's gonna happen when I mentally change? Will I still remember who I was... who I am? Or will I end up like Takato? Will my final transformation utterly rewire my personality to fit my new body?  
  
Is that it? Will there be anything, anything at all, of the human me after I turn into a huge rabbit-like ... whatever.... with weapons attached to my hands? Will I become nothing more than a mindless killing machine hungering for the data of my conquered foes like the personality I've seen Gargomon slip into?  
  
And what's going to happen when my Tamer inevitably bites off more than he or she can chew? Will it hurt to die in battle? What's that word Rika uses? That's right. Upload. Where will my soul go when a more powerful digimon rips me apart and uploads my data? Somehow I don't think all that killing is going to do my karma a bit of good. Lee remember when Takato's data had started to fall apart after shielding Jeri from Hadesmon's attack. This infection hadn't just changed their forms into that of digimon, it had changed their DNA into the ones and zeros that made up the bodies of digital monsters.  
  
As Lee stood silently contemplating a dark future, his Partner digimon had been fruitlessly attempting to get his attention. They still had the problem of food to deal with. While no one could deny the unwavering friendship and loyalty the tiny digimon Rookie extended toward his once-human Other, it was obvious Terriermon had a long way to go before he learnt the meaning of the words patience or tact.  
  
Smiling broadly with a mischievous glint in his ebony-hued eyeballs, the long-eared bunny-dog lifted one of his Tamer's equally long brown ground-dragging Lopmon ears and yelled: "LEE!! YOU'RE NAKED!!"  
  
Startled out of his woolgathering, Lee looked down at his unclothed fur-covered body and screamed. Every thirteen year-old boy's most dreaded nightmare... suddenly awakening to find him or herself standing unclothed before a crowd staring at him (they were actually staring at Terriermon's outburst) ... had just become a stark reality.  
  
Moments before his conscious mind could recognize the true nature of the situation, he'd wrapped himself up mummy-tight with his ears in a blur and fallen over. Terriermon was already prone on the ground. Struggling to untie himself, Lee could only watch helplessly as his digimon Partner pointed in his direction and laughed hysterically. Jeri put her hand to her mouth stunned while Calumon & the duo giggled at Lee's reaction.  
  
The former-human's view was suddenly blocked by four immense toes equipped with sharp ivory-white talons. The ever-curious Guilmon had left Takato's side and was looking down at him with a quizzical expression written all over his dinosaurian features.  
  
Seconds later yet another identical pair of red scaled feet joined the first. Except for reptilian eyes that oddly retained their original reddish brown human coloration, the curious look on Takato's face matched Guilmon's down to the tiniest detail.  
  
"What Leemon doing, Takato?" Guilmon asked in his characteristic high-pitched nasal tone of voice.  
  
"I don't know, Guilmon. But it looks like fun!" Takato replied in a barely distinguishable whining tone.  
  
If Terriermon hadn't been so preoccupied enjoying his Tamer's predicament, he would've started running for cover the second either dinosaur uttered that word.  
  
All by himself, Guilmon had been bad enough. Not evil, of course, the red-hued saurian didn't have a mean bone in his entire body, but neither did earthquakes or other potentially destructive forces of Nature.  
  
Yet, even when he'd been under Takato's tutelage and guidance... human tutelage and guidance that is... the crimson dino's knack for getting into trouble without even trying had been almost more than his Tamer could handle.  
  
Now there were two of them.  
  
With a combined attention span measurable in fractions of a second, and possessing a level of firepower far exceeding their Rookie status, the crimson saurian duo could be an unintentional hazard to anything, or anyone that attracted their attention... or ire.  
  
And the latest subject of their interest, Terriermon, unfortunately failed to notice the dim light of inspiration glowing in two huge sets of reptilian eyes. As one, they spent several seconds pawing the relatively short and inflexible batwing ears atop their heads and turned to stare at him.  
  
"MINE!!" Takatomon yelled as he reached down and grabbed an ear.  
  
"MINE!!" Guilmon yelled simultaneously as he grabbed the other.  
  
Before he knew the danger he was in, Terriermon found himself hanging helplessly several feet off the ground. Feeling much like a stuffed doll about to be torn apart by careless rivaling siblings, he swayed from side to side as the two dinosaurs fought for sole use of his ears. The pain was excruciating. Before Jeri could order Takato to stop that instant, Terriermon beat her to it.  
  
Responding to instincts as old as digital kind, he did what any sane digimon would do: he screamed in pain and called for his Tamer's aid.  
  
"LEE!! HENRY!! HELP ME!!"  
  
The response was instantaneous.  
  
Still prone on the ground, not even thinking, Lee opened his mouth and took a deep breath. Without conscious thought or hesitation, he screamed "Ice Pellets" and released the pent-up energy threatening to explode within his tiny frame. The recoil knocked his ear cocoon apart.  
  
Multiple bluish pulses of energy escaped from his puckered lips and streaked directly towards its intended target: Guilmon. A blink of an eye later more iridescent fire followed closely behind the first aimed at the second red lizard.  
  
Both lines of spheres impacted nearly simultaneously.  
  
The two dino's grunted in pain as they were struck dead-center in the hazard icon and thrown like rag dolls into the shrubbery beyond the clearing just outside Guilmon's destroyed home. The sound of breaking tree limbs and brush closely followed their meteoric departure.  
  
Terriermon was unhurt. Except for sore ears and a tender spot on the bottom of his tail caused by a hard landing, his body was none the worse for wear. Lee was another matter altogether.  
  
As the participant and spectator of many a digi-battle in the Digital World, he had no doubt about what Lee, his best friend and Tamer, had just done: Those blasts had been designed to kill.  
  
No matter the level of digi-evolution, from infant to mega, every digimon had a finite amount of energy it could contain within its body. And, when that energy came to an end, so too would the digimon's existence.  
  
Long before he was old enough to add Mon to the end of his name, wiser digimon had taught Terriermon the importance of balancing the amount of energy he could safely use to attack, versus what he had to hold in reserve to maintain his life. A lesson only the foolish or suicidal dared ignore.  
  
Shooting that annoying Impmon out of a tree was one thing... that was simply exercise. Terriermon could do that all day without doing any damage to him or breaking out a sweat. But he knew on a conscious and instinctive level exactly what his attack reserve could accomplish.  
  
Knock a power house digimon like Guilmon or Takato down? Yes, maybe, if he was win-the-lottery lucky. But there'd be nothing left. He'd be running on fumes. Knock down two? No way. And blast both out of sight? Impossible!  
  
It would take every shred of energy he had. There wouldn't be enough juice to keep on... LEE!!  
  
Jumping to his feet, Terriermon stared in horror as Lee's body flickered like a florescent light tube coming to the end of its service life. Head, ears, torso, arms and legs... all momentarily fading from view. Even as the tiny digimon raced towards his stricken human friend the oscillations increased in speed.  
  
Data death would claim Lee within seconds.  
  
Without even a flash of light or shower of brightly glowing particles, his life and soul would vanish. Terriermon didn't even know if Lee would reinitialize as a digi-egg somewhere. His data might just scatter to the winds and be lost.  
  
Forever.  
  
Never to return to either the Real or Digital World.  
  
Dead.  
  
His eyes misting, Terriermon lifted Lee off the ground and cradled him within his arms as everyone crowded around. Even the returning saurian twins, covered head to foot in dirt and leaves but otherwise unhurt, returned to see what the excitement was all about Jeri right next to him having followed to make sure her Partner digimon was alright.  
  
Lee felt nothing but a soothing tingling sensation. Even Terriermon's arms, wrapped tightly around his body, failed to make much of an impression as vision and hearing began to fade away.  
  
Knowing full well how useless it was, Terriermon still couldn't help himself. He yelled, "Hang in there, Lee! You can get through this! Just hang on!"  
  
Lee heard none of it. With eyes that were rapidly becoming cold and vacant, he watched with almost passionless interest as Terriermon's lips moved and tears welled within his eyes.  
  
What could the problem be? Lee thought. Maybe Terriermon wants something. Could he need protection from my little sister, Susie? No, that can't be it. She's not here to dress him up in dolly clothing or stuff him full of imaginary play tea. I don't know. Darn it! I must be the worst Tamer in history... wait. Takato always use to say he was. That would make me number two. Wouldn't it? It's getting so hard to think.  
  
What could I be forgetting? That's it! I haven't feed him today. Maybe he needs food. But I don't have any. Do I? No... I remember now. There's none here in the park. So what can I give...? That it! My digimon card deck! Maybe they can give him a quick recharge. All I've got to do is...  
  
Almost besides himself in grief, Terriermon failed to notice when Lee's paw lifted slowly off his furry chest and pointed towards the jeans Jeri was currently wearing. With the finely tuned senses of nature's long dead ultimate predators, the two dinosaurs noticed the nearly imperceptible movement and turned to see what the tiny furry fingers were aimed at.  
  
"Terriermon?" Takatomon whined. The distraught digimon ignored him. Seeking comfort during this tense moment, he moved from Guilmon's side and brushed cat-like against Jeri. She, in turn, without consciously realizing the implications of what she was doing, petted him gently atop his scaly head as if he were a dog in distress.  
  
"Thank you... Tamer?" He begins to speak aloud before he slammed his toothy jaws shut in confusion. Why am I calling her that? He thought. The fog of digimon programming smothering his human personality lifted a tiny sliver. Isn't that what Guilmon's supposed to call me? Something's wrong with Lee. Shouldn't I be doing something to help?  
  
Once again he aimed his eyes in the direction Lee's were pointing. Lowering his head towards Jeri's attire, she began to feel uncomfortable when he started to sniff her body.  
  
An animal had only two reasons to smell another creature so intensely. Either he was searching for food, or measuring up a mate. Jeri didn't know which made her more scared. But Takato would never hurt her. Right? He just couldn't.  
  
Her thoughts almost became an audible scream of fear when he began to poke at her. The fur on her tail stood up on ends as claws that could easily tear her apart probed deeply into every pocket. Only Takato/mon's universal desire not to harm his best friend / Tamer, kept him from turning the pants and polyester shirt Jeri wore to shreds.  
  
His large claws eventually came into contact a heavy rubber band holding a pack of cardboard cards laced with electronics together. That's Lee's digimon deck. Takato thought as he pulled the deck from a rear pocket and carefully removed the restraining band.  
  
In an instant, the cards slipped through his three-clawed paw and scattered upon the ground. Out of all the dozens of cards, only one landed face up. That card, and the odd symbol depicted upon it, caused the fog smothering his thoughts to lift a bit more. And the idea Lee needed it came into being.  
  
Why would he want this though? Is his Tamer going to have a battle? Who is Lee's Tamer? And why would he need a Tamer anyway?  
  
His turbulent pondering was interrupted by a heartbreaking scream, "Don't die, Lee! Please don't die!!"  
  
The fog vanishes before the first echo of the anguished cry returned.  
  
"Lee is in danger." As if awakening from a long comfortable sleep, Takato's human thoughts and personality filled a primitive reptilian brain and assumed command. Something had to be done before it was too late.  
  
Looking down at his altered body, Takato knew instantly that he was in no condition to aid his friend. Using the quick wit that'd won him many a digital monster card battle against his schoolmates... but had done little to get him out of trouble for being constantly late to digi-class... he forcefully thrust the card into Jeri's hands.  
  
"Take this! There isn't much time!" He screamed at his tamer. Jeri wass startled speechless to hear Takato's voice, Takato's normal human voice, coming out of those wide-spread flame-throwing jaws. Without a second of hesitation, he tore the digivice off her borrowed clothing and dropped it into her hands too.  
  
"Go, now! Save him... please!" Takatomon felt the fog returning. His time was done. It's all up to Jerimon now. With unbelievable strength and speed, inhuman instincts began to reassert themselves; he barely had time to think one final thought before the process of reformatting was complete:  
  
Whatever happens next will be up to her. Will she understand what needs to be done in time?  
  
A fraction of a second later, Takatomon used a claw strong enough to cut through cement and rock-hard dirt to scratch his scaly head in confusion. Something was wrong. He could clearly remember feeling worried about something, but he was clueless as to what it might have been.  
  
'Leemon is dying.' He thought. 'That has to be it.'  
  
A sad fact but hardly something he could do anything about. Digimon died all the time. But why had he given his Tamer a card? That made no sense. Cards and Digivices were for Tamers to use in battle. His job as a digimon Partner was to protect his Tamer and grow stronger with each battle he won.  
  
He needed nothing more.  
  
He wanted nothing more.  
  
But why did he feel like he'd just forgotten something very important?  
  
Jeri just stared blankly as Takatomon wordlessly turned and walked away. There wasn't the slightest sign in his body language or movements to indicate he recalled the reason why'd left Guilmon's gazing side in the first place, or why it was so important that he give Jeri this particular card out of Lee's deck.  
  
Her only audible comment was a whispered, "Why did he give me a digivolution card?"  
  
Despite Jeri's declaration to be want to become a Tamer and her over the shoulder look at Takato's gaming, Jeri had never spent much time on the trading card game. She'd been way too busy having fun psyching people out with her beloved hand-puppet and crazy girl act. Takato, on the other hand, apparently lived solely to scribble stuff like this. However this wasn't a character card and even her inexperienced mind could guess what this card was for.  
  
What a second! Jeri screamed mentally as the image on the card burned into her mind.  
  
'Didn't the guys talk about a Tamer giving her digimon their strength to help them digivolve? Maybe that's why Takato gave it to me? Maybe this can save Lee ... AAGGHHHH!!! What am I doing wasting time talking to myself?! Maybe I am crazy!'  
  
From the moment she'd first laid eyes on the card, to the moment she swiped it through her digivice, maybe five seconds had past. It had almost been five seconds too many. Lee was literally but a shadow of his former self and fading to nothingness for perhaps the last time. Praying she wasn't too late to save his life, she aimed the tiny screen towards him.  
  
Except for Takatomon suddenly feeling strange and dizzy, nothing happened. Sick to the pit of his rotund stomach, he moaned. For an instant it'd felt like something had been crammed down his throat he couldn't swallow nor digest. His skin was one size too small for him or something.  
  
Fortunately, for the people in charge of park cleanliness and maintenance, the sensation vanished as fast as it'd appeared. Otherwise, far more than a little trash would've needed to be carted away the next time they came by.  
  
Jeri had problems of her own.  
  
In a near panic, she tried to figure out what she'd done wrong as Lee's ghost continued to fade. Thankfully the answer hit her like a brick. She dropped her D-Ark and pulled out Lee's. Giving thanks that he'd replaced it in his pants just the night before, she slashed the card. She prayed her blunder hadn't cost Lee his life.  
  
Her prayer was almost instantly answered.  
  
With maybe a second to spare, Lee was bathed in the eye-searing light that exploded from the tiny device. The display distracting anyone from the red beam shooting into the D-Power from Calumon holding his head as if suffering a headache. The same kind of device that'd caused Jeri, and her family, so much grief seemed almost eager to make up for the pain it's sister had caused. The light was similar to the one released when Rika regained her true memories, but something about it ringed different.  
  
As everyone around covered their eyes against the glare, Lee's digitized body underwent an even more bizarre series of transformations. And none are as weird as the first.  
  
Between one breath and another, Lee was gone. In his place was something vaguely similar to what any fan of the digimon cartoons would expect his look-a-like, Terriermon, to evolve into: a Gargomon.  
  
Emphasis on the vaguely.  
  
And, unlike the digital monsters that'd befriended the make-believe humans in the cartoon show, he looked anything but friendly. While it was true he was nowhere near as stomach-turning or bizarre looking as some of the other digimon depicted in the animated series, or upon his extensive collection of digimon playing cards, Lee's new form left little doubt as to his function.  
  
Take away a Gargomon's dangerous Gargo-blasters, Terriermon's evolved form, and he's not much more than a jovial fun-loving human-sized rabbit with a serious weight problem. Lee's evolved form, as a Lopmon that is, looked anything but happy or fun-loving. In fact, he looked exactly like card proclaimed him to be: an assassin. Digimon often healed and revitalized dramatically when reverting or gaining levels, this was no exception, Lee looked ready to fight.  
  
He didn't remain that way for long. A handful of seconds at most, but it was long enough long enough for everyone to lock eyes with a tall thin-framed merciless killer-rabbit and reflexively take a step back in fear.  
  
Only Terriermon remained frozen in place. Just inches away from the enormous scalpel-sharp blades attached the other digimon's gloved hands; he feared the slightest movement could result in his instantaneous impalement and destruction.  
  
Considering the nature of the other digimon, it was a wise choice.  
  
Their uneasiness was as short-lived as the digimon who reverted back to its rookie form in a far less dramatic flash.  
  
Lee just sat there, his mind spinning from the gain and loss of the new form, no longer fading in or out, the reality of things struck home. He had almost dissolved into digital nothingness. He had almost died. And it got even worse. He had changed again. He had digivolved. For all intents and purposes, he was a digimon. There was no denying it now. It was almost more than he could bear.  
  
"Momentai... Lee." Terriermon whispered as his Tamer began to cry uncontrollably as Terriermon wiped away his own tears.  
  
Demonstrating their unwavering support in his time of grief, all his friends reached down and squeezed his shoulders before moving away. Except for Terriermon who remained steadfastly by his Tamer's side, Lee's struggle to regain his composure would remain a private affair.  
  
The card Jeri had used had gone red hot, but had not blackened in the slightest. By all logic it should've caught on fire, but it didn't. Lee's D-Power in kind felt hot in her hand, but not scalding like the card. She carefully returned it to Lee's pants and reclaimed her own digi-vice on the ground utterly undamaged.  
  
Completely forgotten, a wayward digi-child looked on in confusion and dread. Why was everyone so unhappy now? Everything had been a bit 'testy' before this all started, but no where near this grim. True, his funny-looking friends had made all the bad digimon go away before, but that didn't make them bad too. Did it?  
  
Despite his childish outlook on life, Calumon had no doubt that something was very wrong. Or, in his simple way of thinking about it, not right. Not right indeed. A line had been crossed once more. A line no human should cross.  
  
It meant little to Calumon if his playmates were humans or digimons. And if a human just happened to turn into a digimon, that was even better. It just meant they might have more time to play with him, instead of wasting their lives 'working' or 'learning in school' like they did so often.  
  
But seeing humans-turned-into-digimons digivolve to a higher level... Takato first, and now Lee... crossed the line and scared him to death as his function subconsciously warned him. His core program refused to compile the data his eyes were sending it. This shouldn't be. And there wasn't a single thing Calumon could do about it. Why couldn't he just be happy like he always was?  
  
The world for the tamers was a quite place for the next few minutes. The near death of a friends was not something kids their age should ever have to see. But it happened all the same.  
  
"What we do now?" Kenta and Kenta asked simultaneously as no one was in the mood to debate again.  
  
"I don't know." Jeri honestly replied. "Lee was the one making plans."  
  
"What about the tunnel, Jeri?" Takatomon suddenly yelled breaking into the silence.  
  
Jeri blinked. "Tunnel?"  
  
"That's it!" Kenta replied fluttering his wings so rapidly he lifted off the ground. "There's a tunnel entrance is near the park's edge. If we can reach it unseen, we should be able to get right next to the school without being spotted."  
  
"Why?" Jeri replied. "We're trying to get to Takato's."  
  
"You're a genius, Kenta!" Kazu exclaimed while slapping the flying human-digimon hybrid in the back so hard he nearly knocked him out of the air. "The school is closed-up and under quara- quran, whatever that word is. If we keep far enough way that those goons can't see us, we won't run into  
  
anyone walking around nearby. Who'd want to take a chance and windup looking like us? Chumly's place can't be more than a couple blocks from there."  
  
Jeri just stared. When the flipping heck did these guys get so smart? She wondered what movie they had seen this out of.  
  
As much as she hated to admit it, Kenta was right. With a little luck they might be able to pull it off. Although, considering their well-deserved reputation for getting into trouble, Jeri had a bad feeling in the pit of her stomach doing anything either one of the pair suggested.  
  
"How would YOU know about something like that?" Lee inquired. These kids weren't who Lee thought would know the city's routs like the back of their hands. A digimon getting off a whirly gig had a better sense of direction.  
  
Kenta felt embarrassed and kept his beak shut. Kazu beat him to the punch seeing he wasn't about to talk about that time. "I had him go in there once at night on dare. . . . Turns out our parents were all waiting for us on the other side . . ." When had he been able to sit down after that again?  
  
"How did you find out that Takato?" Jeri couldn't believe Takato would ever be dumb enough to accept a dare from these two. "Kazumon's momon blabbed about it to me when I asked why I couldn't see him for a week before."  
  
"You're lucky." Lee scolded at the bird-type as he staggered all fours trying to shake the aftereffects of his near-death experience. Standing on two legs was obviously beyond his ability at the moment. "Most dares get you killed."  
  
"It was nothing serious!" Kazu didn't want Kenta to dig up that ghost more than they had.  
  
"All the same . . ."  
  
"Okay, we've got a plan. Let's get going before something not nice happens." Jeri announced in a loud voice so everyone could hear. Jeri was surprised at herself as was everyone else. Since when did Jeri take command of anything? Was 'Rika Jeri' going to appear again? Jeri shook her head in denial. Not everything was an omen of doom. They just had to do this that's all. She didn't need to be 'Rika' to be strong.  
  
If someone else had heard her thoughts, they would think if only a certain digital fox kit would realize the same.  
  
"What about...?" Kenta replied pointing his beak in Lee's direction. He was obviously in no condition to travel under his own power.  
  
"Takatomon knows what to do!" Takatomon suddenly announced and turned around.  
  
Followed closely behind by Guilmon, Takatomon marched forward. A second later both dinosaurs stood silently over Lee and Terriermon. Takatomon lowered his head so that the top of his skull was facing the bunny dogs. Nothing was said. Nothing needed to be said. Terriermon nodded once and the saurian duo moved as one.  
  
With the gentlest of motions, Takatomon placed Lee atop his head while Guilmon did likewise to Terriermon. Sighing deeply, Lee seemed to slip into a trance. He'd always wondered why his digimon Partner took every opportunity to travel like this. Now he knew. The feeling of security... of knowing someone loved and cared for him... was almost more than he could comprehend.  
  
The future might be unknown, but now, this moment, he was at peace.  
  
The voice was small, innocent; it really didn't belong in the middle of such bitter sweet emotions. But it was there all the same. Light had a way of doing that to darkness. "Hey! Can I come too?" Calumon begged. Jeri took one look at the white, well, whatever animal he was based off of, and took him in her arms. "You can come with me." She said.  
  
Calumon smiled. "Thank you."  
  
Takatomon let out a low rumbling growl of jealously; carrying Jeri around should be his job. He satisfied himself with the knowledge that his next digivolution would leave him large enough to serve as her protector, -and- noble steed.  
  
In a single line, the group cautious left the park en route to the tunnel with Kazu (reluctantly from the rest of the group) leading the way, with a little luck, Takato's home. What they would find there, or how they would be received, was anyone's guess. It didn't matter. For each one in his or her heart knew an inviolable truth: as long as they were together there was hope. And nothing, human or digimon, would ever change that. Foreword ho!  
  
~ ~~~~~~~~~~~~  
  
Flames, comments, suggestions, reviews, analysis, reactions (good or bad), rants, praise, insults, and occasional constructive criticism are all welcome.  
  
However if you an axe to grind with a review I made e-mail me or I'll report you're abusing the review system (sorry but it's happened to me TOO many times in the past for me to ignore it anymore. No RayD I do NOT mean you) .  
  
Please do not just write 'MORE!' those reviews leave me feeling empty inside.  
  
Remember, I'm only part of a group here. And we need new members if we want to keep this alive. 


	13. PreMath Four

Ten reviews per-chapter, yippee! I feel happy. By the way, RayD, I'm grateful to you, you helped me remember about the speech style of the characters besides Impmon. Thank you. Farla, I'm grateful to you too, you've helped me in way you'll never know. Thanks.  
  
If this story was just me, I'd quit, but it isn't, never has been, as long as I have one person who smiles every time they read one of these, then it isn't just mine, and I have no right to quit.  
  
I'm a deer in the headlights trying to decide which way to go. I wonder if I can do it.  
  
I wrote last chapter about Jeri worrying about 'her' mistake costing Lee, when in reality it was Takato who gave her the yellow d-vice. Don't ask me how Takato thought up Lee's d- vice being able to digi-modify Lee himself instead of Terriermon or how it happened. That part was written by Charles.  
  
I had Jeri refer to her first encounter with Calumon at the end of the last chapter and again here, but I realized that was superfluous.  
  
During the fight scene with Rika and the two digimon, I forgot to take her bandaged hand into account. Sorry.  
  
I used to be able to keep myself going by doing at least one sentence a day on all my stories, now I've even lost that urge. What's wrong with me? I'm afraid. I know that. But what am I afraid of? Rejection? No. Maybe I'm hesitant because I know once I start: I mustn't stop or lose my train of thought. Have I just become too easy to distract? What is wrong with me?  
  
In the last segment I wrote Henry Lee Wong it should have been Lee H. Wong. I went with Create Card's idea he used for Eli Moon and had the anime character's dubbed name be his middle name.  
  
'his body language or movements' I now see that it was redundant to use both.  
  
There were also a tone of 'Susie's instead of 'Suzie' as I've put in as cannon in previous parts.  
  
declaration to be want to become a Tamer declaration of wanting to become a Tamer  
  
Hats off to Red dwarf.  
  
I don't think Rika and Renamon will return until part 15 at least, sorry.  
  
For those of you wondering what the heck happened, the built in monitor to my computer stopped working, thankfully I bought this thing less than a year ago so it was under warranty so I was able to send my lab top into apple for repairs and I got it back a couple days ago.  
  
This one here is another 99% Charles' work. I just gave it the final stamp of approval.  
  
My employer/family has told me I can forget about showing up late, long lunches, and slacking off at work for good now. So this might be all you get for a month or two. But don't lose hope and keep me on your author alert. After all, when all is said and done, isn't hope all we have?  
  
Talachi: Professional proof-reader? Me? If only more people thought like you. But again remember, this story is a group effort. I know the new chapters are moving slow but that's because they all used to be one big chapter.  
  
nightdragon0: I mix Lee's name up on purpose, it's my way of making both the original and dubbed cannons work. Again, the attack power element was Charles, though other members of our group didn't like it that much. You guessed right on the form. But when Lee evolves again, things will be slightly different. (You'll see.)  
  
waynemon: Sorry, running out of steam again. These things happens. But it would be nice to actually FINISH a story for once in my life.  
  
Gerjomarty: That's more than one question. However, you'll get a hint of the spread of the infection in Lee's mind here, and it'll be different from the others. Kenta and Kazu are complete digimon. Jeri is the only partway digimon left. The progress mentally has not stopped. Your thanks is greeted with a welcome.  
  
mad-man: Whose shows up all depends on how far in the time line the story gets, and I thought we were doing a fairly good job of keeping the digimon from becoming the add-ons they are in Digimon 01.  
  
eliana: Good. Because the way things are going, weeks or months may separate the 14th and 15th chapters from each other.  
  
Crow T R0bot: Ugh. No. Huanglongmon is the center God Mega and is a golden dragon. Ebonwumon is a giant two headed turtle and rules the north sector. And it was god in the original version: they made it Sovereign in the dub to make it more politically correct. Read for yourself  
  
Though Huanglongmon does confess not to be the digital world's god he is not just another god mega. And each god mega IS their sector, they are the embodiment of it, -OR- their sector is the embodiment of THEM, no one knows for sure. If a god mega was to die, the sector they rule over would die with him. (Much like with what happened with the dark masters and their territories.) So they know what's going on in their sectors the same way we know what's going on in our own bodies. Like Morgana/The Voice from .hack//SIGN and The World. And all things aside, the Designer of the universe gave humans free will for a reason you know. And while I personally don't approve of what Rika's doing, she just following her instincts. Takato and Rika only got a little close for a while in the show when Jeri was out of the picture, Takato realized it was Jeri who he loved when he rescued her from the D-Reaper's claim on her mind and soul.  
  
Light Sneasel: Nice to read from you once again, my faithful reader and reviewer. See nightdragon0's review for Lee champion form, or wait till chapter 15 where it'll appear again.  
  
Kara: Charles almost killed Henry. I've got to remember to tell the team about your praise. Thanks for comments about the characters and the story itself, those are the reviews I like the most.  
  
Anonymous: I believe I was already using that spelling. And '- mana' is added on the end of shape shifting foxes -I THINK-.  
  
hee hee hee!: Get help. Please. That wasn't funny.  
  
Black Raptor Black Raptor: Rika doesn't know those digimon used to be human, but still, Rika is no more a murderer than Renamon, Guilmon or Terriermon, or, that's how her digimon self is seeing things.  
  
SpilledInk: In the name of all that is good and decent, HOW BIG A MESSAGE DO I NEED TO PLACE?!!! DO NOT USE THE REVIEW SYSTEM TO SEND ME MESSAGES CONCERNING A REVIEW I WROTE! USE MY E-MAIL! I LEAVE IT PUBLIC SO MY REVIEWS ARE NOT CLUTTERED WITH MESSAGES! PEOPLE WHO USE THE REVIEW SYSTEM TO SEND MESSAGES CONCERNING ANOTHER REVIEW AND NOT EVEN LOOKING AT THE STORY ARE NOTHING SHORT OF COWARDS!!  
  
Sorry about that people, it's just so many people have done it to me over the years it's become a person subject with me, sorry for the out burst I hope that I have not forced any of you away because of it, but it needed to be said.  
  
Personal note to Charles: Sorry about some of the things I've changed here. But I needed to keep cannon and answer some of my own questions. I'm grateful for the Japanese culture references here.  
  
~ ~~~~~~~~~~  
  
A couple miles away from the infected Tamers: life continued as usual. Bread had to be made and baked, and hungry customers served. In fact, many more customers than usual had been keeping the Matsuki family bakery busier than usual.  
  
Naked except for the white cotton aprons tied around their wide middles... it wouldn't be accurate to call it a waist, dinosaurs and dragons simply don't have one... two seven-foot tall, three hundred pound plus saurians did their best to keep an evermore famished clientele happy and supplied with fresh bread. Though Mrs. Matsuki wondered if some of her buyers even bothered to taste their purchase while stuffing it down their gullet as soon as they had handed her, her due.  
  
The fact that their long-time neighbors, and increasingly frequent customers, were looking less and less human with each passing hour did nothing to distract the couple from their task. If anything, the more 'normal' they appeared to the saurian pair, the more they seemed able to devour. -The only real problem they could see was exhausting their stock of flour before their normal supply run.-  
  
Neither of the two found this remarkable in the slightest. Digimon ran on energy. And if they don't get it by consuming the data of vanquished foes defeated in battle, they had to get it from eating.  
  
And nothing in the Digital or Real worlds could out-eat a digimon. Well, maybe a few professional Sumo wrestlers but that was beside the point.  
  
"Come now dear," a gravely, yet somewhat feminine, voice demanded as yet another bread roll vanished down the widespread jaws of a towering dark blue-scaled dinosaur. "Leave some for the paying customers. That's the eighth you've eaten in the last hour."  
  
A slightly rougher masculine voice replied. "I'm sorry." The Allomon replied trying to look embarrassed as he hid another roll within his huge clawed paw. "You know how I get when I'm worried. We haven't seen claw or scale of our son for two whole days!"  
  
"I know dear." The slightly lighter cerulean hued female dragon kin answered as she gently rubbed her fang filled jaws against her mate's equally well-endowed muzzle. "But that humon on the phone said Takatomon was safe and sound with all the other children. You don't think someone from the government would actually lie to us?" She said with a straight face.  
  
"But when will he come home?" The nearly imperceptibly larger of the two reptiles whined worriedly as he resumed to expertly knead the lump of dough atop a table with his massively clawed paws to take his mind off things knowing just how stubborn his mate was when she wanted to be.  
  
"Soon dear," Takato's V-Dramon mother answered in the most soothing tone her reptilian vocal cords could manage as she opened one of the bread ovens. She was equally worried about the fate of their only child, but it would not be right to show it now. There was no telling what might happen if her husband got out of control. He'd always been the more emotional, and least disciplinarian, of the two by far. Given a choice, he would much rather spoil their son rotten than spank his scaly bottom. If provoked by worry, her husband might go stomping through the front door and do something silly. Think of the embarrassment! How would she ever look her neighbors in the face if he 'Dynamite Headed' the entire grade school to rubble? And the bill . . .  
  
Besides, as far as their daydreaming son was concerned, it was always best for a young Mon to learn how cruel and unforgiving life could be early rather than too late. This experience would bound to build character for him.  
  
The world could be a dangerous place; and both of his parents were clearly guilty of being overprotective of their sole offspring. Despite the risk, and how much it hurt her to even think it, perhaps it was time for Takatomon to literally fight his own battles. As he often pointed out, he wasn't a Fresh Level digimon anymore.  
  
Regardless, she had no doubt he would come home soon. What role, if any, he had to play in the strange goings-on at his school was still unknown, but she was sure he'd have an excuse that would be as transparently false as a glass of water. He always did. But he was a good Mon nonetheless. If only he would concentrate more on his studies and balance it out with his drawings.  
  
'Talking about concentration,' she suddenly thought in spite of herself. 'Why didn't I recognize Takatomon when he came home? It must have been the stress clouding my senses. Why didn't he just come in through the front door? He said he was afraid I wouldn't recognize him after his next evolution. I was so sure he was worried over nothing.' Knowing she couldn't continue on this road she shifted gears. 'Although, I now that I think about it, wasn't I suppose to talk to Takatomon about something his teacher said? What was her name? That's it. Ms. Usagi. Or was that Ms. Usagimon?'  
  
The aforementioned teacher had phoned last week to complain about her son's lack of attention in class, and a memory of the incident had somehow survived intact within her digitized brain. She could still clearly recall the irate teacher saying that, for apparently the millionth time, her son had been locked out of the classroom as punishment for being late. And that she, the teacher, was upset that he spent so much time drawing funny looking pictures and playing card games instead of studying. Of course, when her son had come down with that flu, she decided to wait till later to grill him, but later never came.  
  
Takato had been lucky that Usagimon had been too drained by her initial infection to remember she was supposed to call Takato's parents about him biting her and them thinking about home school from now on, and now, with her in the hands of Hypnos and the Bio-Hazard crew, it was perhaps the farthest thing from Usagimon's conscious mind.  
  
Suddenly noticing the empty oven brought her mind back to the present. As long as she could keep her husband busy in the bakery, and eating half the profits, things should remain calm until Takatomon's returned. Which with hope would indeed be soon. If not, the city wouldn't have to worry about Takatomon's father going on a rampage. She'd go outside, rearrange a few buildings and get her baby back herself.  
  
"Dear?" She asked her own breath attack not suited for this sort of thing. "Could you please warm this oven?"  
  
"One Dino Burst coming right up." The precise attack had the oven lit in a second leaving the flammables objects in the room untouched. Not having to use expensive electricity or gas to start their ovens was doing wonders for the financial success of the family business. Why had they never thought of doing it before?  
  
* * * * * *  
  
Fortunately for the city, the object of Mrs. Matsuki's affection was drawing nearer by the second. Unfortunately, for the same city, the aftermath of his slow progress home would be extremely expensive to repair.  
  
"Are we there yet?" Takatomon whined as he peered into the surrounding darkness apprehensively, attacking the darkness with a fire ball every time it looked back at him. The darkness so similar to the one in his mind it had inspired him to think of this place for their rout to his nest.  
  
His concern was echoed almost instantly by a very similar voice, "Are we there yet?" Guilmon didn't like being in the underground tunnel any more than his once-human clone. None of the group did, actually. And having to hear 'Are we there yet?' every few seconds was making the tunnel seem even longer then Kenta remembered. Or maybe it was because he wasn't flying full tilt away from his own shadow this time.  
  
It didn't help the group's dramatic march had been cut short and forced into a restart when they remembered Lee's digimon cards and had to return for them, thankfully nothing had gone wrong, for once.   
  
Surrounded by darkness on all sides save for some tiny islands of yellow light, it was clear Tokyo city financial planners had decided that more than a bare minimum of light fixtures would be an irresponsible waste of yen. Due this unfortunate penny-pinching decision, darkness reigned in much of the tunnel except for a few pools of yellow light directly beneath each low wattage bulb. Not that anyone could find fault with their logic. How could they possibly imagine the consequences if a pair of high-stung saurians ever chose to travel via this route? Make that a couple extremely overprotective, and very, very, nervous reptilians armed with built-in flame-throwers. After the tenth Pyro Sphere, Lee stopped counting and tried to meditate while resting comfortably atop Takato's flat head.  
  
'Yes. Without a doubt,' he thought. 'This is going to be a looong trip.' Hopefully, it wouldn't be a final trip for a hapless local citizen who happened to be traveling in the opposite direction.  
  
As it was, the local city rat population had suffered a marginal decline. Ten of their long-tailed and sharp-toothed brethren ... with Guilmon leading the score six to Takatomon's four... had already gone to rodent heaven in a blast of digital dragon fire.  
  
How repair crews would explain all the holes the digimon blasted into solid concrete and steel was anyone's guess: likely the same way they had explained all the property damage resulting from the local digimon to digimon fights.  
  
As Takatomon drew a deep breath in preparation of sending yet another rodent to its eternal reward, Lee leaned down and rapped his miniature knuckles atop a bone-hard prehistoric skull, "Leave them alone, Takato! Don't you think you've done enough damage for one day?"  
  
"But... but... but Guilmon's winning!" The boy turned flame- throwing reptile replied.  
  
Knowing how futile it would be to debate the issue, especially when Guilmon and Takato were already heavily engaged in yet another competitive endeavor, Lee wisely decided to take their greatest weakness into account.  
  
"Okay. Tell me then. Guilmon has fried six rats, and you've blasted four. How many more do you need to incinerate to break even, Takato? Guilmon?"  
  
Looking totally stunned, the scaly duo marched forward side by side in total silence. Lee began to feel guilty as the sound of mental gears grinding against each other almost becomes audible. Not really. Something in the back of his mind, a little Lopmon voice, was laughing hysterically. Lee did however see the death glare from Jeri along with a slight tint of fear, the brown digimon realized there might have been a reason why Jeri had not ordered her partner to stop attacking the rats. She wasn't terrified or hateful of rats, she just preferred they weren't in the same general area as her.  
  
Sighing deeply, Lee made himself comfortable. There was no telling how long calm would reign, probably no more than a few minutes, but until the Virus types calculated the correct answer... unlikely in the extreme... or something else attracted their hair-trigger curiosity.... much more likely... he might as well enjoy the ride.  
  
"Lee?"  
  
"What is it?"  
  
"Can I come up?" Calumon asked breathlessly. The tiny rotund digimon had jumped from Jeri's hands and was presently running as fast as he could just to match Takatomon's slow measured pace.  
  
"Sure, Calumon. Climb up. But I'm not sharing. Takato's head is all mine."  
  
"Okay."  
  
Bouncing up Takatomon's scale-covered tail and spine like the volleyball he so closely matched, the child-like digital monster was soon close enough to speak comfortably with the former human. However the white digimon remained strangely silent, not even yelling out 'horsy ride' as Lee was sure Calumon would. "What's the matter?" Lee pried. "Are you hungry? We should be reaching the bakery soon."  
  
From his perch atop Takatomon's shoulder, Calumon replied with a single word, "No."  
  
"You're not hungry?" Lee answered in mock shock at the albino beach ball clinging to Takato's neck. "Really? Who are you? And what have you done to the real Calumon?"  
  
Any further comic commentary died in his throat when he noticed the tears welling in Calumon's green eyes. Something was upsetting the little fur ball, and, from the look of sheer terror stretched across the digimon's usually carefree features, Lee was sure he didn't want to know the cause.  
  
'Mom, why me?' Lee thought ruefully as he looked in all directions for the source of danger. "It always comes down to me! Why couldn't I have turned into something dumber than mud that lives to eat and have fun like Takato?"  
  
"Hey!" Takatomon yelled clearly insulted by Lee's outburst.  
  
"Sorry, Takato. No offense intended." Lee replied in all sincerity.  
  
As he opens his mouth to expand on his apology, he suddenly found his words altered by a snide, and irreverent, personality hiding just beneath his consciousness.  
  
"I'm sure you're every bit as smart as mud!" An alien voice with Lopmon overtones yelled into one of Takato's batwing ears.  
  
"That's okay then." Takatomon answered instantly mollified. It took several seconds for the true nature of the comment to penetrate his mild-mannered character. Growling in anger, too much like a raptor for Lee's taste, the dragon proceeded to shake his head violently from side to side. The free ride was over.  
  
Calumon wisely jumped off and bounced back to the safety of Jeri's hands while Lee, or rather the foreign personality that'd suddenly usurped command of his transformed body, decided it'd be much more fun to stick around and enjoy the thrill ride.  
  
Hollering and whooping in excitement like a rodeo cowboy atop a bucking bronco, Lee found himself hanging onto both of Takato's ears for dear life as the red-scaled dino did his best to shake him off.  
  
His fun was short-lived. Almost as soon as it started, as Jeri yelled. "Knock it off you two! I think we might have trouble!" Takatomon stopped in mid-hop and gave his Tamer his full attention.  
  
The very instant the word trouble reaches his outlandishly huge Lopmon ears, Lee Wong, the studious and serious minded thirteen year old human Lee Wong, was once more in sole command of his digitized body. Just as quickly as it had appeared, the 'other' was gone. Or was it?  
  
'Not likely.' Lee commented gloomily within the confines of his own thoughts.  
  
For now it was gone, but for how much longer Lee wondered, it seemed content to let Lee's mind run the show. Perhaps it recognized... whatever 'it' was... that Lee's intellect and human memories were its best chance for survival in the Real World.  
  
'And when it doesn't need... me... anymore? What then?' Lee asked himself close to a new set of tears.  
  
"Lee I need you." Jeri said from a couple yards off. Except for Takato and himself, everyone else was already crowded around looking at something in her hands.  
  
With an unconscious skill that was rapidly becoming second nature, Lee spread his ears widely apart and launched himself into the air. Gliding faster than his miniature legs could ever carry him, he was soon perched atop her head and looking down at her digivice.  
  
"What's up?"  
  
"It beeped." Jeri replied. Her eyes remain fixed on the machine, or rather, the small glass screen in the center of the device. "And something about the noise spooked Calumon."  
  
"Any idea what the sound means?" Lee asked. Like everyone else, he found his eyes drawn to the dark, and apparently, inactive device.  
  
"I'm the one asking you. You've had one of these things longer than me."  
  
"Normally it wouldn't just 'beep.' It should have given you some kind of information." 'I didn't think these things could get damaged.'  
  
"What if I press all the buttons?" Guilmon interrupted. Before Jeri can even think of moving, a large white claw tip is hovering only a fraction of an inch above the device.  
  
"I... really... don't think it'd be wise to do that, Guilmon." Lee reasoned against all hope.  
  
"Why not?" Guilmon asked as the sharp tip of his claw dropped even closer.  
  
Guilmon playing with Jeri's Digi-Ark could not bring anything good. He shared his worst case scenario. "How would you feel if it turned you... if it turned all of us... into scrambled digieggs?"  
  
With his claw poised above the same device Jeri had seen cause so much grief and pain already, Guilmon stood rock-still apparently deep in thought. Except for Calumon and Takatomon who erroneously believe they're watching some new kind of game, everyone else has beads of anime panic- sweat forming on their brows.  
  
"That wouldn't be fun." Guilmon suddenly announced in a disappointed tone and stepped back.  
  
Sighing deeply, Lee mentally promised to stop at a Shinto shrine at the earliest opportunity. Escaping a near-disaster like that definitely merited a thank-you prayer or two. His thoughts were mirrored almost word for word by Jeri, and Kenta.  
  
After using his ears to parachute gently to the ground, Lee waved a paw at Calumon inviting him to follow. Still looking scared out of his wits, Calumon eventually dropped by his side, and, once again, Lee is shocked by how tiny he had become. The soccer-ball sized digimon standing in front of him is only a couple inches shorter than he was.  
  
'Sigh,' he thought. 'Could this get much worse?'  
  
'Sure,' a familiar sounding voice replied within the confines of his brain, 'you could be nothing but a head... no body... just a head. A big-eyed digimon head without legs, arms, or torso. Getting around by bouncing on your rear end is a lot easier than it looks. You might feel uncomfortable sitting on a toilet at first. Homons don't usually have butts attached to their heads... do they?'  
  
"Get out! Get out! Get out!" Lee screamed as he pounded his skull with both paws, seconds away from smashing his head into the hard ground. The voice just laughed as his friends looked on wondering if he'd gone crazy. "Play with you another time", the voice faded away and Lee found himself once again alone within his mind.  
  
"Whoooo... you okay, Lee?" An owl-like voice inquired from several feet directly overhead. Flapping his wings at high speed to maintain a stationary hover, Kenta was staring inscrutably down at him. Only the somewhat human tone of his voice betrayed his sincere concern for Lee's welfare.  
  
Sometime during their trip through the tunnel, his few remaining human facial features had completed their avian transformation. His beaked Owlmon face was now no more capable of displaying human emotions than any other bird. Visibly shocked by what Lee had been sure was already a complete change, Lee lied, "It's nothing. I'm fine."  
  
Kenta never was the sharpest tool in the shed. "Whoooo... that's good. You had us worried."  
  
Looking around, Lee failed to spot Kenta's inseparable companion. "Where's Kazu?"  
  
"Whoooo... he's way up there. He said something about not liking rats. Are you sure you don't need any help?"  
  
Lifting his gaze even further, Lee could just barely see a dark black blue (Kazu still hadn't followed Kenta's example) and green shadow clinging upside down to the concrete ceiling with a perfectly curled tail. Using the suction-cupped digits on his hands and feet, Kazu was clearly able to move up there with the same ease a human walked on flat ground. When he had done this, Jeri had looked at her claws and wondered if her toes had claws yet and if she could perform the same trick. However a part of her brain warned her that there was no way her claws would be able to get the grip she needed on brick and concrete.  
  
"I'm fine!" Lee shouted back. "How about you go look for a cracker and let me talk to Calumon. Okay?"Lee hoped that 'who' sound was Kenta breathing out while the owl flew, Lee didn't think he could take having to hear that every time Kenta spoke.  
  
"Whoooo... whatever you say." Kenta replied deferring to Lee's leadership role in the group. "Don't be afraid," Lee whispered in a far gentler tone to the fairy digimon when he noticed how terrified the digimon child still appeared. "It was only a 'beep', digivices make that kind of noise all the time. It's nothing to worry about."  
  
The scared-out-his-wits look in Calumon's baseball-sized eyes didn't decrease one iota.  
  
Lee knew what was coming. "Let me take a wild guess, it wasn't the beeping sound that's got you upset, right?"  
  
If Calumon had anything remotely resembling a neck, his emphatic nodding would've broken it.  
  
"Ugh! I was afraid you were gonna say something like that. Let's try this... it's what the 'beep' means? Something bad, maybe?"  
  
By the time Calumon stopped nodding, Lee's neck felt sore in sympathy.  
  
"As if we don't have enough trouble already. How about you... and please don't nod anymore, I don't think my neck could take it... point where the danger is coming from." By now, Lee and Calumon had everyone's attention.  
  
Not even brave enough to look in that direction, Calumon aimed a tiny paw along the same bearing they'd been heading. Far in the distance, but close enough to be clearly visible, is the other end of the tunnel. The source of whatever had terrified the little digimon couldn't be more than forty or fifty feet away.  
  
'Run or fight? Run or fight? Run or fight?' Lee's mind raced in circles as he debated what best to do.  
  
Normally, there wouldn't be any question about it: He'd run away. It didn't take long for anyone meeting Lee to realize that he was a dedicated pacifist. Even the thought of deliberately harming a make- believe digital creature... at least, what he'd once believed was only a lifeless animated character in a video game... had been painful. Never once during his time as a Tamer had Lee sought digimon for the sole sake of fighting them. It was his choice to make and only affected him. Not now. By no wish of his own, fate had entrusted him with the safety of his friends.  
  
Running away in a rush would doubtlessly leave someone behind. Alone. In the darkness. Helpless. Something he vowed would never happen while he drew breath.  
  
He broke his covenant and accepted responsibilities for his actions. "We fight!"  
  
To be continued . . .  
  
~ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
  
Flames, comments, reactions, rants, love, hate, corrections, suggestions of all kinds, and occasional constructive criticism completely welcome.  
  
Don't just say 'MORE!' those reviews leave me so empty.  
  
Note that of right now, anyone who uses the review system to 'talk' to me about a review I gave will be taken as a coward for not sending it to me via-e-mail where I can write back. Sorry but it's happen just too often for me to take it anymore. 


	14. PreMath Five an happy new year

On this very night, new year eve two years ago (or would have if I had worked an hour faster . . . make that two), I posted the first chapter of Digimorphs 03, and now I realize, a group is stronger than one person.  
  
First I thought after I got Light Sneasel's review (my personal go ahead signal) I'd get this chapter done by Christmas Eve, then Christmas Day, well, late as it is, here you go.  
  
I'm sorry. I'm just so sorry. I just hope you people aren't losing interest in this story story just because of the surplus detail and extra long waiting time between chapters. I have so many stories that have waited over a year for me to work on. But I've chosen to focus on this one. Leaving the readers of those stories wanting. You can't please everyone I know, but it still doesn't make it pleasant.  
  
Also, I went with the dubbed version of Terriermon's attack. Sorry.  
  
Mistake on my part, Lee had started to wear his digi-vice on his ear a couple chapters back, it wasn't still in his pants, sorry.  
  
Charles is unmatched when it comes to detail but cannon is totally my department and reading this story over again -man has it gotten long- I can see I haven't done that good a job. Sorry.  
  
Conditioned reaction: Neon Genesis.  
  
If I was to go back fix the bugs in the very first batch of chapters, would you people read them?  
  
One problem with these chapter releases, you can go back and correct mistakes from before.  
  
Do any of you people actually read these forewords?  
  
After reading the old parts, I have to admit Reilly killing Trilly makes even less sense since she promised to share her winnings before hand with Reilly.  
  
If we were to go back and alter the old chapters with a new coat of paint and better expression, would you read them again?  
  
Chapter 8: "I must be her dad." Jeri thought. "It must be her dad." Jeri thought. Boy do I miss these things or what?  
  
On a minor note a reviewer made a while back, he was right, I was wrong, Monodramon CAN walk on their back legs alone.  
  
mad-man: read and find out.  
  
Waynemon: This soon enough?  
  
Gerjomarty: Think about the state of Calumon's forehead symbol and that might effect his cheerfulness. Rookies do not evolve to ultimates, guess again. Lee is just facing the fact you can't always chose not to fight. Takato became a guilmon because that's what he'd be if he was born a digimon. That's all I'll say. And by the way, I just want to say right now that I've your longer reviews, they make me smile.  
  
nightdragon0: *giggles* You'll be surprised. And for Rika, I didn't think about that, but a good connection.  
  
tremor3258: I agree totally and utterly, Guilmon IQ is not quite that bad in the anime, but like I said, I don't write every part. Like I said, I don't like messing with Charles' work as much as I should.  
  
Black: Whenever Takato is fighting, he's along side Rika, when he's living the rest of his life, he's along side Jeri. Yes I do want to work more with Rika, but the other writers tend to leave her alone. When we begin writing again I'll be sure to write her again. I love longer review, so thank you.  
  
Digimon Lantern 1: 1) I already have something in mind to snap Rika back to her senses, at least in part. 2) Heh. Don't we already know a Tamer from another reality? :-) 3) Sorry, way too cliché. 4) Well . . . I didn't think about that, and yes, she IS a Gatomon. 5) Rika couldn't care less about them. 6) Right now, the virus is only biological in nature. 7) Heh . . . you're so right about something but I won't say what. 8) Three times over you have no idea how right you're are. 9) Uh . . no . . Impmon fate lies somewhere else. No offence taken to doing it this way. I'm just sick of people doing a review just so they can yell at me that they didn't like I review I gave them.  
  
Crow T R0bot : No frustration caused. I hate . . . OCs . . . Or rather, I hate the way they're used. nightdragon0's stories are the only time I've ever seen them used RIGHT. Takato doesn't know how Rika thinks. Ryo does. Actually, your theory is right on the money. I was wondering if anyone was going to pick that up.  
  
Kara: Oh . . . you'll see . . . I just hope you guys don't all hate me TOO badly for this next part.  
  
Light Sneasel: Your questions actually have one answer. It's okay. I'm losing my creative voice so I have no reason to debunk you. You're review is when I know to start fixing up the next part since you're my ultimate regular.  
  
Offical names and spellings of many Tamer characters   
  
Personal web site of the show's main producer:  
  
It's now 2 AM PST here and I've been working on this non-stop since ten thirty so hope you all enjoy.  
  
"MAGICAL BEAT!" - Opening of Ruin Explorers.  
  
~ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
  
Without hesitation or discussion, an unseen battle line was drawn across the twilight tunnel's width. In the center stood, Takato and Guilmon. The hell dragons could best defend the group at a distance, or, if the unknown threat somehow survived their fiery warm welcome, they had the best odds of prevailing in a claw-to-claw confrontation.  
  
To Takato's right and Guilmon's left, Lee and Terriermon made ready to lend their guidance and support respectively. Their attacks may not have been anywhere near as powerful, or as long ranged, but anyone on the receiving end of their more precise Bunny Blast and Ice Pellets would definitely find the experience less than enjoyable.  
  
High overhead, Kenta and Kazu prepared to drop down upon their unknown attacker, or attackers. Though misfits to the core of their beings, the pair had put away their argumentative and indecisive natures in the head of the moment. And neither was under any illusion. If it became necessary to sacrifice their lives, so be it. It would a small price to pay. The survival of their friends came first. Kids their age, especially laid back ones like the dynamic duo, should never had had to face unforgiving crossroads like this one, but they didn't have a choice. Even they wouldn't turn tale and leave their friends to face this alone. Maybe Kenta wasn't the only one who had been given a back bone by the change.  
  
Only Jeri and Calumon stood slightly aside of the full morphs preparing to do battle. Her duty was clear: protect the defenseless Calumon and escape if it became necessary. Someone had to. All hope for finding a cure for the mysterious infection mutating the inhabitants of Tokyo might die if none of them survived.  
  
Decidedly afraid, but not under it's command. They stood ready. To both face the enemy and support each other. United as one. Like friends.  
  
Lee ordered. "Eyes front everyone! We don't know when it'll hit!" He never wanted the job of group leader but there was no one else. Takato was in no shape, the K boys were always followers, and after Jeri's angst attack last night Lee knew she had enough to deal with.  
  
And like everyone else, she was completely focused on the tunnel's path ahead of them.  
  
Two identical burning attacks streaked out of the darkness behind them, scoring a direct impact their intended targets: two wide red-scaled dinosaur posteriors.  
  
Yelping in pain, Takatomon and Guilmon spun around returning "Pyro Sphere!"  
  
Their fiery replies to the sneak attack was almost instantly joined by several "Ice Pellets" and "Bunny Blast"'s coming from Lee and Terriermon flying from their tiny island of light into the surrounding darkness. Kazu and Kenta in spite of their completed change had yet to learn how to launch their attacks, much like Jeri who had armed herself with a fist- sized rock Jeri had picked off the ground.  
  
'It might not count for much against what's out there,' Jeri mused, 'but every bit counts. Right?'  
  
No truer words had ever been thought.  
  
In face, Jeri's attack couldn't do any worse, except for making more work for the repair crew that'd have to clean up the ruined walls, none of their digi-powered counter-attacks connected with their unknown, and now hysterically laughing, assailant -there was only one voice-. The digimon were too high on adrenaline to let the sick laugh phase them. Well hidden in the darkness beyond the reach of the tiny light bulb burning high overhead, their attacker felt safe from any retaliatory strike. The fact that its victims felt compelled, in upright and proper digimon manner, to announce their counter moves before launching only made them that easier to avoid.  
  
"OUCH!!"  
  
A rock thrown without any verbal warning whatsoever was simply unthinkable. Things like fireballs, lightning bolts, energy blasts, gusts of steel-hard air were perfectly normal and to be expected. Digimon could throw these, and many odder things, in combat: but a rock?  
  
With the sudden death of the strange laughter Calumon demonstrated a child's microscopic attention span, when his terrorized whimpering suddenly switched to gleeful laughter. Whispering something so quietly that even Jeri enhanced hearing can't discern it, the little digimon wiggled out of her grasp and bounced into the darkness giggling.  
  
Jeri yelled running close behind. "Calumon! Please come back!"  
  
Without a word, the rest of the group broke ranks and followed as fast as they could. Not exactly the wisest course of action when dealing with an unknown threat, but a very, very human one when someone dear to their hearts, might be in imminent danger. Or would have if Calumon hadn't returned to the light a second later carrying their clearly larger enemy over his non- existent shoulders.  
  
Terriermon's response, when he spotted the 'imminent danger' laying on the dirty tunnel floor with a goose-egg sized lump on his forehead, was a rather predictable, "Aw... crud! It's just that dork Impmon messing around in the dark." Larger when compared to Calumon. The bunny/dog gave the little devil a weak kick. "And I had a great boss battle back ground song going on in my head too!"  
  
Dazed and only semi-conscious, the little purple demon digital monster responded to the depreciating remark by reflex alone.  
  
"Hey! I'm an evil digimon of the night! I haunt the darkness!"  
  
"Yeah, and I can see why." Lee observed sarcastically. "The less people see of you, the better. You're more Bozo than Beelzebub."  
  
"Watch it, bunny!"  
  
"That's... Mr. Bunny to you!"  
  
"Just who is this guy with the over sized mouth?" Kazu asked landing from the ceiling starting everyone and delaying Impmon's conditioned instant insult reaction.  
  
Lee recovered before Impmon. "Oh that's right you guys haven't met before. Impmon: the K-boys Kenta, and Kazu. Kenta, Kazu: Impmon. The most substandard evil digimon in the world."  
  
Landing with a flap of his wings, Kenta clicked. "You sure he's not an escaped character from NiGHTS?" Kenta had loved that game.  
  
"You mean." Calumon asked in a hurt tone. "It was you who scared us, Impmon?"  
  
"Of course! And you were stupid enough to fall for it... dummy!"  
  
"Kawaii!" Calumon's ears suddenly expanded to full size excited at the prospect of a new game. "How about you let me scare you next time?"  
  
"Wha?! They'll be ice-skatin' competitions in digimon limbo before that happens!"  
  
Lee, or rather the semi-dormant digimon portion of his altered personality, smirked mentally and tapped Impmon behind on the shoulder with one of his huge ears. When the pint-sized digital monster turned to look, he found the former human looking back at him innocently with his arms hanging limply by his sides. Terriermon needed no further prompting to get into the act. He lived for gags like this.  
  
Bending over, the beige furred bunny-dog pushed Calumon within a inch of Impmon's spine after whispering instructions into one of his white ears. Nodding his acceptance to his role in the impromptu scheme, the little rotund digimon scrunched up his bland facial features, bugged out his immense eyeballs, and moved his ears foreword away from his face much like when Calumon had first meets Takato.  
  
Grabbing the eggplant colored tail, Calumon gave it a strong yank while yelling, in the loudest and deepest voice his tiny lungs could produce. "BOO!"  
  
Taken completely by surprise, it was a wonder Impmon's head didn't hit the ceiling. Instead, the purple hued digital demon spun around to find Calumon's distorted face only a fraction of an inch from his nose.  
  
Falling back onto his rear in shock, Impmon's 'brow' twitched in anger.  
  
"Youse . . . youse . . ."  
  
"Do you need some dry underwear?" Terriermon teased.  
  
"Thad's it!" Impmon roared. "Pa-pare for yer end! Bada-Boom!"  
  
What followed was clearly the most one-sided digi-battle in recorded history. Even Calumon... a digimon who couldn't even conceive of harming a fly let alone going at it... threw a few poorly aimed play punches. None connected, but that didn't matter. Except for Jeri who kept out of the fray, everyone else made up for the little digimon's lack of combat prowess a hundred times over.  
  
Ten minutes later and still mumbling, "Just youse wait until I get my breath back! I'll take youse all on! One at ah time or all at once! I don't care!" the battered purple troublemaker kept up a non-stop stream of threats as Guilmon dragged him out of the tunnel by little arrow-tipped tail with his big red one.  
  
None of the group was under any delusion that he'd learn anything from this painful incident and mend his ways in the near future. He wouldn't be much of a villain if he actually learned anything moral from his mistakes, or learn much of anything for that matter.  
  
At least, as far as evil digimon go, he barely qualified as a minor nuisance. Lee had been given detention for beating up bullies worse than Impmon. For Lee however, that was now less important than it had been a few days ago. He had betrayed his own sacred oath not to fight when not back into a corner, yet, he didn't feel like asking Sensei never to teach him again. But Lee didn't know if that was related to the infection, or himself.  
  
"I'm so glad to be out of there." A much more out spoken than before Jeri thought out load as she re-arranged the bandages covering her numerous cuts and bruises. Calumon, now tagging along on her shoulder, was looking empathetically at the injuries covering her arms and legs. The scabs on her chest invisible under Lee's vest and shirt.  
  
Looking into his troubled eyes, Jeri found it hard to imagine that this tiny defenseless cream puff could be the same digimon that'd scared her out of her wits only a few weeks ago.  
  
"Me, too." Terriermon responded to Jeri's statement.  
  
"Me, three." Lee concurred a second later.  
  
"Us, five." Kazu and Kenta chimed in.  
  
"We, seven." The dinos added at the end.  
  
Even though full sunrise was several hours old, the sky overhead was not much brighter than the tunnel behind them. This stunned the ever observant Lee who knew the sky had been clear as crystal before they enter the tunnel's maul.  
  
Thick black clouds now hid even a hint of the Sun's location. Still, compared to the claustrophobic near pitch-black conditions they'd just endured, it might as well have been high noon.  
  
"Must be some really nasty weather coming," Jeri observed pointing a claw-tipped finger straight up.  
  
Lee went into strategic mode. "Good. People will stay inside. That means they'll be less of a chance of others getting infected."  
  
Calumon asked off handily. "Do you think we should've left Impmon back there, Lee?"  
  
Terriermon smiled. "We can't do that. The rats might complain."  
  
"Ha Ha! Very funny!" Impmon replied sarcastically as Guilmon lifted him completely off the ground by their tails.  
  
"Besides," Terriermon added while laughing. "I'm sure he won't mind HANGING around with us for a bit longer!"  
  
Proving the non-fictional reality of his existence, Impmon's instantaneous response was a lung-emptying barrage of foul language no kiddies' cartoon-show character would ever be permitted to use. -And likely be translated into some bad Brooklyn cabie jabber.- Jeri, her own face growing redder by the second, barely managed to cover Calumon's huge ears before he heard more the first few syllables.  
  
'Mental note to myself,' Jeri mused silently as she waited for Impmon to run out of steam. 'Find a big bar of soap. Clean out that filthy mouth at first opportunity. And then... '  
  
Her plan making was suddenly interrupted when Calumon gave out a new loud fearful whimper. -Since had Calumon become so suddenly subject to moments of fear?- Spinning him around in her hands, she found his eyes frozen wide-open in absolute panic and pointing a tiny limb at a tall distant building.  
  
At that very instant it struck her... it struck all of them.  
  
Danger. Extreme danger. 'You're about to die horribly' kind.  
  
On a scale of one to a hundred, Impmon hardly rated more than a zero point zero zero one on the 'things to avoid' meter. A comical nuisance who's presence in the past had only served to bring a moment of levity during many otherwise overwhelming tense situations.  
  
There was nothing funny about the building Calumon, and a few humans around town, were pointing at.  
  
Buttressed on both sides by a pair of even taller towers, which were actually using the smaller building as their foundation, the upper floors of this modern glass and steel structure appeared to be glowing red-hot and only seconds away from, from . . . the new digimon had no clue what 'it' was, only that 'it' wasn't a good thing.  
  
Looking practically close enough to touch the spires, a swirling cloud of glowing red and orange clouds circled just above the roof. Almost continuous thunder-less lighting strikes jumped between the cloud and both towers.  
  
The hypnotizing image was suddenly taken away when Guilmon bumped into her. Traveling in a straight line with Terriermon, and Impmon following close behind, the trio of digimon were walking dazed and drunken towards the building. -What did sharks do when they smiled too much blood in the water?- Calumon only looked on in fear.  
  
"Get back here, Guilmon!" Jeri screamed. The red-scaled digimon ignored her. "Terriermon! Impmon! Stop!" None gave any sign of having heard her.  
  
Like iron filings to a magnet, they seemed unable to resist the unknown force attracting them, and only them, towards the building. Jeri could feel 'something', and, from the look in everyone else's eyes, she had to assume the other digivolved children felt it to, but that's all it was.  
  
A feeling.  
  
A bad feeling.  
  
A growing worse by the second feeling.  
  
Takatomon could attest to this in spades.  
  
Normally, Guilmon and he were as inseparable as Siamese twins. Not now. Whatever hold that light-show had on the natural digimon, it was having an equally strong, but repellant, effect on him. He didn't need any of his new digital instincts to know that voluntarily approaching that disaster-in-the-making was, in a word, insane.  
  
The difference in behavior was something the corrupt AI of the infections took note of and knew it would have to correct at a later date.  
  
Frustrated by his inability to formulate a viable solution to the current situation, Takatomon yelled another word, "Leemon!"  
  
In much the same way that Jeri had been awaken by Guilmon's unintentional collision; Takato's shout jars Lee back to the present. Mumbling an automatic 'stop calling me a Mon!' his eyes focused on the slowly departing digimon. Instantly accessing the gravity of the situation be shouts even louder.  
  
"Takato grab Guilmon! Jeri grab Terriermon! Kenta and Kazu! Grab Impmon! Now!"  
  
In a blur of superhuman speed and strength, Takatomon raced forward and lifted Guilmon off the ground. The digimon's clawed feet didn't miss a beat. The red-scaled digital dino was totally unaware of Takatomon's powerful bear hug and his sudden lack of forward progress.  
  
A few seconds later, Terriermon, and Impmon are similarly restrained. They too were likewise oblivious to the presence of their captors.  
  
"What now, Leemon?" Takatomon growled.  
  
The children were close to panic. As one they turn and gazed down at Lee hopefully. Lee's response to their voiced and unvoiced requests for guidance was a rather predictable, "RUN!!"  
  
As if a visual demonstration was necessary to get his point across, Lee raced away as fast as his diminutive legs and widely spread ears could carry him. Even burdened by Calumon and Terriermon's miniscule weight, and a late start, Jeri had no problem leaving him in her dust. With cat- like ease, she bounded down the same empty sidewalk that lead straight to Takato's home.  
  
Even as they escaped, the natural digimon began to come out of their daze for whatever reason they did, but they were in no condition to move under their own power and had to rely on the others to get them to safety, if they had any idea what kind of disaster they had to worry about and what could protect them from it.  
  
Only Kenta and Kazu remained behind. Even impeding doom couldn't keep the pair from finding something to bicker about.  
  
"You take him!" Kenta yelled pushing the semi-conscious Impmon into Kazu sucker-tipped fingers.  
  
"I don't want him! He's icky!" Kazu replied tossing the purple digimon back into the five large feathers the owl-like Kenta uses in lieu of fingers.  
  
"Look who's talking! You're so slimy things stick to you!" Kenta answered angrily.  
  
"I'd rather by sticky than icky! Take care of him yourself, Kenta."  
  
"Whooo...?"  
  
"Very funny. Don't give me that owl stuff. Do what comes naturally. Think of him as road-kill, birdbrain."  
  
"Him? Yuck! Are you trying to poison me, Kazu?" Kenta replied in an offended tone.  
  
If any evidence were needed to illustrate the insidious handiwork of the infection transforming the children into digimon, this example would take the cake. Not only had Kazu just suggested using a sentient being as food with a clear conscience; the only objection Kenta could offer to counter this cold-blooded solution to their problem... and in Kazu case, cold-blooded was a literal fact... was a personal dislike of said sentient being's personality.  
  
"What's it gonna be then?" Kazu inquired while pointing a sucker-tipped eight-inch long thumb over his shoulder at the glowing building. You gonna carry or eat 'em? Or do we wait here until that thing blasts your feathers off?"  
  
"Carry it is." Kenta squawked back as he took Impmon in his talons and leaped into the air. "But don't think I'm going to forget this wall-crawler. If I get a rash on my claws, I'm going to take it out of your scaly hide!"  
  
Despite their late start, it didn't take the pair long to catch up to Lee, and just as rapidly, leave him behind. Lopmons, and Terriermons for that matter, simply aren't cut out for Track and Field events. Due to diminutive stature and spherical body design, both are more likely be mistaken for a ball than as participants in any kind of sport.  
  
Lee almost wanted to kick himself when his body remembered he could use his ears to glide and move at much faster speeds. He did so a second later. It took them several minutes, the building still brooding all the same. They didn't encounter a single soul digital or otherwise. But remained at the back of the line.  
  
Whether Takato's home would be far enough away to protect them when that building did whatever was anyone's guess.  
  
Almost moaning at the strain he had put on his ears, Lee would have run right through the glass front doors if it wasn't already open and right into a blue mass of scales and muscle.  
  
"There you are," a nearly sonic-boom loud female reptilian voice announces, "my hero." Lee would have fallen on his back from exertion if he hadn't been trapped in a cage of ivory-white talons a moment later by a blue t-rex. Lee could do nothing as another set of blue-scaled jaws filled with needle-sharp teeth hurled towards his face and planted a wet kiss on his skull.  
  
For the record, it must be noted again that reptiles don't have waists or lips. As such, neither of Takato's dinosaurian parents, nor he himself, could actually kiss. Their dino equivalent of this particular human gesture is instead a gentle rubbing of jaws and a generous exchange of slobber.  
  
The former nearly ended Lee's existence when a grateful, but over-enthusiastic peck to his forehead from Takato's mother's rock-hard jaws came close to crushing his head. The latter proved almost as hazardous when those same jaws opened wide and a blanket-sized tongue drenched him in saliva.  
  
Looking more like drowned cat than a digimon, Lee could only smile weakly in return to the gesture doing his best to be polite; the smile vanished an instant later when the cause of their headlong flight hit his mind hard.  
  
Lee screamed. "We have to take cover! It's going to explode!" He didn't know what was going to happen, but that was bound to get any adult's attention.  
  
While Takato's father,Takehiromon, lowered Lee to the floor, Takato's mother, Miemon, asked. "What's going to explode, dear?"  
  
"That building... that building with the two towers! It's going to . . . going to . . ." Lee replied running out of breath mid-sentence. More than his height had been reduced by the unknown infection of his digital transformation. He'd hated to admit it, but his current physical condition was pathetic. His little sister could rip him apart like a cheap plush toy without even trying. Then again, he seen Terriermon take digimon apart ten times his size.  
  
"Go take a look, Honey." Takato's mother asked her mate taking Lee seriously from the emotion in his voice and the exhausted state the other kids including her precious and only child had been in when they had crashed through the door frame onto the floor who were all still catching their wind and wits, except for Takato who was in his mother's loving embrace pressed hard against her body, as if afraid he might vanish again if she let him go.  
  
Not one to argue with his female, Takato's father removed his floured apron and used it to wipe the flour from his paws out of iron clad habit. Completely nude like his wife -which would give certain pathetic people mental images if reptiles didn't have it all internal-, he stomped across the wooden floor making the heavy planks tremble with each clawed footfall. Feeling not the least self-conscious about his unclothed body... few digimon except for the most human-looking one ever bothered ... he stuck his huge head and upper torso through the doorway.  
  
"It's as ugly as ever." The t-rex raised a fore arm to his head to try and shade his eyes. "I still can't figure out why the government had to build that glass and metal monstrosity so large. Not that I'd mind, but it doesn't like it's going to blow up anytime soon."  
  
Avoiding a slowly swinging tail that could break most of them in two at full speed, the children jammed themselves between Takato's father's muscular dinosaur body and the doorframe. None could believe their eyes.  
  
It was gone all of it: the low-hanging circling clouds, the lightning flashes, the flickering colored lights bouncing between the two towers. Gone like someone had turned all of it off with the push of a button.  
  
Unbeknownst to the children, and their digimon Partners, it'd taken an assortment of different fingers -and black or burning claws- frantically pressing buttons to avoid the apocalyptic destruction of Tokyo. The unknown person, or persons, responsible for pressing all those buttons was fated to remain a mystery for some time to come.  
  
To Be Continued . . . Don't worry, I have 37K of text left to go through before we reach the end of this batch and I need to write more . . . wanna help? The link is in my bio . . . please?  
  
~ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
  
Be honest, do I over do the bait and switch in this story?  
  
In the original I had Impmon being left behind tied up-side down keeping the rats company inside the tunnel (all of them) much to his own panic but Charles decided to change it. Would that have been better?  
  
Flames, comments, reactions, rants, love, hate, corrections, suggestions of all kinds, and occasional constructive criticism completely welcome.  
  
Don't just say 'MORE!' those reviews leave me so empty.  
  
Skip the four letter words, they make you look stupid, not me.  
  
My e-mail is public, use that if you want to talk to me about a review -I- gave you. Do not abuse the review system. 


	15. Do The Math

This marks the end of our pre-made material: it's back to the salt mines for me.  
  
I am a fool, a lucky, lucky fool who used up all his good luck this day. I accidently erased 95% of this chapter's text and saved it and didn't learn about it for days. By sheer LUCK I had send a back up copy to my father's computer a few days before, so I lost only four days worth of my work instead of four months of my work and Charles'! I deserved to lose this work. I'm negligent in all my writings. But you don't deserve to lose this work. So I'm happy I didn't lose it completely. Here is to the luck of fools. Cheers. Thanks God.  
  
I just want to take a moment to say that the fanfiction series "Blurred Edges" was great, though it has been removed for the a second time, this super AU digi-crossover could never be beat.  
  
And the saga 'Doors and Data' is still around, in spite of not being updated in a year I still have hope for this sequel to the Tamer series that has all the characters IN character.  
  
Mermaid Resort a great story, if fanfiction.net lets you find it.  
  
Kanada I don't know why she (okay I don't know if she was a he, but it was never brought up) chose to remove her digimon stories, especially when they were so gripping. But her pokemon one is still good. If only I hadn't lost her e-mail.  
  
Should I rename this story 'Morph Tamers?'  
  
I tried to give you the web addresses for the official names and ages of the Tamer character last time but ff.net has decided it hates web address. So I've tried to put the web links at the bottom of my bio, tell me if it works or not, and don't forget to tell me about the chapter too.  
  
Serious question here people. How many of you -read- this story and how many of you -skim- the story? I just need to know if I need to cut out the detail and inflection and turn this thing more into a summery style.  
  
It's funny, you guys are saying this thing is going too slow, yet when I younger, I was told I was too high paced.  
  
I've decided not to send alert e-mails to people who have me on their Author Watch List, just seems a waste of time.  
  
I've just realized, I'm only on chapter 15, and this thing could VERY well run for 40 since we have so much to go through. Oh well, no one said writing stories was child's play.  
  
nightdragon0: Oh well, what's done is done. Yes to your question, it was them.  
  
Waynemon: Love the praise, but a little more input would be welcome.  
  
MAD-MAN: They did run for it, they just didn't forget about their friends.  
  
Black: Ryo will be popping up when he's supposed to. And I figured Ryo does know how Rika thinks, that's how he's able to play her like a fiddle. Milleniumon? Naw, enough major baddies as it is. Megidramon on the other hand . . . well, if this story goes on long enough. Sorry I try to go with official pairing when they exist, just a habit I guess.  
  
Wolfen Man: They wouldn't be small corrections, more like detail fleshing out. I'm starting to think you're right about the not half way done thing. Ryo will show his face if we get far enough along in the story. As for wolves . . . well, we always need a random bio- emerging/realizing digimon for the group to fight . . . heh heh.  
  
Kara: Juggernat was activated by someone other than Yamaki. That's all I'll say. I also realize that writing the new chapters will hard as it is. But I'm seriously wondering if I'm turning off readers with the first chapter being so half-hazard.  
  
LotusStar: Rika will return eventually, she'll be the main focus in later chapters, but like I said before, I'm the only writer of the group who LIKES writing her. If only I had someone else . . . As for Lee's split personality, it has more to do with miscommunication between writers than anything. But I've got something in mind to make it more logical.  
  
RayD: Thank you, I enjoy reviewers who don't hold back. I'm glade you've recovered from your injuries. I know the name spelling is wrong now, but we've been using it for so long it's become cannon for this story, sad but true. I didn't know I was repeating Renamon's history -that- much, well, I've laid it off for the last several chapters, and you're right about it being a core plot point. One could argue Renamon is cold because she's cutting off her emotions due to what happened to her family. I don't remember that name and I've only had about a hundred authors tell me to give up writing because of a review I made. You make it sound as if I planned it. I can't control how people react to my reviews, and I've never once told a writer to quite, misinterpretation is the curse of human communication. If you could give me 'her' e-mail address or a web link to 'her' stories I could at least remember what I did. I don't aim to be harsh, if people -think- I'm harsh because of the way I review, I'm sorry they feel that way, but I'm go into detailed precise reviews on stories I LIKE, stories I hate I don't give the time of day. (Life's too short to review stories you hate.) Remember this is a group effort, I'm hardly the only person writing this. Charles does detail, I do cannon, Arron and Fionn do ideas. (Or used to.) So if things seem bunched together, it's due to us passing the ball a lot. I had hoped we had smoothed it out. I'm asking as an author, how would I change how I separate thoughts and improve my presentation? Sometimes I have to have a chapter be short or the readers will forget I exist if I wait too long. Most stories have the kids changed, have them get right on the problem, and have that be that. If this does drag on, it's because these chapters were all once one BIG chapter, but you can guess I'd never be able to get it out in a rational amount of time. And life is full of meaningless events. Adds a slight touch of realism. And deep thoughts are bread and butter to me.  
  
Chapter six correction. We're going to end up dead if we do something fast! We're going to end up dead if we don't something fast!  
  
benny2000: I may or not have gotten your e-mail, I get a lot of e-mails and often don't connect them with user names. But I take all suggestions 'with a grateful heart.' Since this story is still a 'pass it on' at it's own heart.  
  
Gerjomarty: Nothing to forgive, don't worry. Charles wrote the concept of the unoriginal digimon being repelled, he still hasn't told me why. I just trusted him. I would have liked to read your ideas just because I live off ideas. I'm sure Charles would love to hear that you said that about his revising style.  
  
Light Sneasel: Nice to see you again. I only reviewed one of your stories ever but you've stayed with me all this time, thanks. Your question will answered several chapters from now when the first warrior whose name is written in the stars appears. Err, read on and you'll find the answer to your second question A SAP. I know, and it'll be awkward for me to write after all these inflection and action scenes. The virus only effects living things, I spoil that right now.  
  
Hope you enjoy this because one TINY thing WILL change by the end of this chapter.  
  
tremor3258: Heh, it's not like the rats would have eaten him. He would taste like eggplant. Get a flashlight cause you might be in the dark about that for a while. Sorry. What does Impmon -have- to offer?  
  
William: Sure, no prob, just be sure to tell me why you like it.  
  
I Am A Sly Slytherin: By next chapter or one after that I may be AT LAST able to get Rikamon back in the story. I miss them too.  
  
jh: I don't know about finish but here's the next chapter. I actually meant to get this chapter out the day BEFORE your review, but stuff happens.  
  
If anyone has suggestions how for each character I can make their style of speech more in character, I'll take them with open arms. I simplified some of the dialogue here to make it more believable.  
  
I wonder where Crow T R0bot and Digimon Lantern went. I was kinda waiting on them, (Well, that a being a read-aholic.)  
  
Heh, I found out that the true creator/OS/absolute being in digital world is ABC aka Atanasoff, the first computer ever built (So the "God" Megas are just administrators.)  
  
Spaces added.  
  
http:// syldra.net/ yesterday/wonderswan/ eniacabc.html  
  
"Let me show you, just what I'm made of now!!!" -Sonic Heroes final battle. _ _______________________  
  
Where before a vortex of doom had hung ominously overhead, ready to hungrily devour the city below, a tattered blanket of white clouds now floated serenely across the background of calm pale blue. A little more clouds than sky perhaps, but nothing extraordinarily strange for this time of year. Winter was rapidly approaching after all. Whether snow or rain would fall today was anyone's guess.  
  
"You youngsters," the tall prehistoric reptile declared shaking his massive skull, actually chuckling, "always with the practical jokes. You had me worried for a second, funny Mon. And to think Takatomon told us you were the most serious-minded of his friends, Leemon." Lee was lucky Takato's father took 'the joke' in good humor, having to deal with an angry adult who happened to be a dinosaur at the moment was not something the Lopmon wanted to do. Though Lee had recovered his wits from his near deletion experience at the park that morning allowing him to get here under his own power, he doubted he could ever take on a power house like Takato's father had become without a modify card. -Maybe if he had a Tamer, ugh, don't think that!- And dinosaur Takato's father was, Lee didn't see a trace of humanity in the great digimon before him. He mannerisms and body language were anything but human. The last time the group had been here, Takato's mother had still been semi- human, they hadn't seen her other, but now her husband and herself were now decidedly digimon. Lee wondered if his own body motions had become those of a Lopmon without him realizing it, or weather this infection kept those around him from thinking a digimon with the movements of a human was weird. Rika hadn't noticed the change in her movements when she had changed.  
  
Knowing he had no way to explain the sudden change in weather, or the baffling light show, Lee wisely decided to change the topic of conversation when he turned around to notice that he was sudden alone with the blue t-rex, "Where's Takato?"  
  
Lee noted that while still huge, Takato's digivolved father wasn't anywhere near as gigantic as his champion status merited. While still towering over the average human, his dinosaur frame was still small enough to pass through the bakery's front door. Lee could only wonder if his reduced size was sheer random change, or something the unknown force that'd mutated his body had done by design.  
  
"Where else?" Takato's father replied pointing a claw the size of a human hand towards the rear of the bakery, he didn't need to see where his son had gone to know where Takato was, he was his father after all. "He gave us all quite a shock. His new friend looks so much like our son you'd think they both popped out of the same digi-egg." Lee knew better to challenge the mysterious change's logic of them being surprised now since they seen Takato together with Guilmon before. "If he eats anything like our Takato we might have a problem, lucky for us a new batch of bread is baking right now, or we might be a bit short in time for the afternoon crowd." Not that the dino would have cared. Truth was, Takehiromon was happy for his son, he had finally found a digimon who was like him instead of just a drawing of one.  
  
Lee suddenly turned and began to walk towards the rear of the store. Wracked by hunger pangs that hadn't existed a heartbeat before, he couldn't take get his mind off of the image of a large loaf of Italian bread more than twice his height. It requires all of the human self-control remaining in his Lopmon body just to whisper, "Would you... would you mind if I... ?"  
  
"Feel free, Leemon." Takato's father replied being good at reading people's stomachs. "It's the least we can do to repay all of you for bringing our wayward son home safe and sound. The rest of your troop seems to have already helped themselves. Eat as much as you want." At least that explained the welcome he had gotten, Jeri or Takato must have made him out to be the master mind behind discovering Takato, well, he had chased him to the park from school where Takato likely would have remained if Lee hadn't convinced him to go home. But it had been a group decision.  
  
What Lee discovered behind the display cases as Takato's father remained at the storefront could only be likened to a shark feeding frenzy. Guilmon's head were already in a behind the counter display case, Takato trying to catch up only just being released from his mother's embrace.  
  
Jeri came close to being trampled flat when the completely digivolved children, and their digimon Partners, had run forward. Personally, to Jeri it reminded her of nothing sort of pigs at a trough. Only Impmon showed a little self- control, or, at least that's what she'd at first assumed was some kind of restraint. Unable to compete for anything in an honest manner... evil never plays fair... the little troublemaker could only satisfy his hunger by stealing bread from the paws of others smaller or slower than himself. That left only Calumon to steal from, and one should never get between Calumon and a cream puff. Terrerimon of course was an old pro at this trick at now, having been in food free for alls before. Kenta used his claws and beak to take his prizes while Kazu's fingers natural suction cups let him keep the ones he grabbed. Then again, could anyone really blame them? Some of them hadn't eaten in almost a day while others had never even seen the inside of a bakery before.  
  
It took nearly an hour for calm to return.  
  
Feeling much like he'd fallen into the fire to escape the frying pan, Takatomon had raced into the bakery to escape the impending disaster outside to find himself within the incredibly powerful clawed clutches of his mother. If he hadn't mutated into a thick-boned digital dinosaur himself, her over-enthusiastic embrace might've crushed him flat. Though this was actually lucky for Lee as Takatomon's mother had been too interested in her son to care about Lee's 'joke.'  
  
As it was for Takatomon, his mother had alternated between bouts of tearful rejoicing over his safe return, and roar- loud complaints about his unexplained absence, his sudden departure, and his utter defiance at him physically pushing her away when he and the other had vanished again night before last. Takatomon replied with the truth, as he knew it, that digivolving had just left him very confused, although he still wasn't sure why. Ultimately, his mother was too overjoyed to see him safe and sound to care about small details. The phone call she had gotten from the hazard crew had told her, her son had been with the rest of the students, after Takatomon explained he had been in the park, (to which she again began to scold him for such thoughtless action) his mother began to realize she had been lied to. She wondered what else the hazard crew had lied to her about. Not that it mattered; she had her digi-egg back in her arms: that was what was truly important. Seeing Guilmon this time had given her a shock, she had been stunned by Takatomon's late coming last time to care, but she saw that Guilmon was indeed the same kind of digimon as her son. Up until now Takatomon had been thought to be one of a kind, a virus digimon born from a vaccine and data digimon who showed none of a viral's normal, 'unsavory' traits. Her son wasn't alone anymore. Remembering a box Takatomon had brought that seemed to have a mind of it's own when he sneaked it into his lair, one that for a moment she swore had a red tail, she realized something. "Was he, Guilmon, what was in the cardboard box? Another one like you?" His mother remembering that incident stunned Takatomon but he nodded. "Why didn't you tell us about him?" "I . . . I . . . just wanted him to myself." Takatomon stumbled over his words as the answer was created in his mind. "And . . . you always told me I was special, and . . . if you saw him, I wouldn't be special anymore." "Honey you'll always be special to me, even if there a hundred who looked like you, you'll still be my only Takato." Everyone but Jeri was too busy stuffing his face to care about the heartfelt scene.  
  
But Jeri had not escaped a mother's anguished wrath.  
  
Getting hit verbally for failing in her Tamer's duty to properly supervise Takatomon after getting in about Lee's actions and approach was bad enough. That the toothy jaws doing the scolding were quite capable of biting her head off, literally, just made the dressing down all that more unpleasant. But after the pain she'd gone through with her family yesterday, most of it rolled off her like water off a duck's back. Failure as a Tamer? Easy to take. Failure with Takato? Harder, but she could live with it after everything. It was painful, but sort of a numb pain. Jeri didn't think it was odd how they knew she was Takato's Tamer right off; Jeri didn't think she would think anything odd ever again.  
  
Taking note of the situation, Jeri decided right then not to mention Takato and Guilmon's short stay in jail. (And with the havoc the city was about to face, the police have more important things to do then ever bother with them.) Accidents do happen. And any accident involving either of Takato's digivolved dinosaur parents would likely be a serious hazard to life and limb.  
  
Out of some instinct inherent in all Tamers, Jeri had used her D-Ark to get a profile on Takato's father and mother. "Allomon, Armor level, Type: Data, Breed: Dinosaur, A attack: Dino Burst - 440, B attack: Dynamite Head - 320." It was a blue t-rex with a red strip pattern similar to a greymon with a couple American Indian style charms on his head and upper body. Or the one on the card did, Takato's father and the image on Jeri's D-Vice had no such decorations.  
  
(spaces added) http:// cf.geocities.com/ digi_josied/ Images/Allomon.gif  
  
"V-Dramon, Holy Dragon Breed, Champion Level, Vaccine type, primary attack: V-Breath Arrow - 420. Secondary attack: Hammer Punch - 350." Like an over sized adult stout V-mon with a white and blue scale pattern with a white arrow like 'v' on her chest area, an upwards horn on the tip of her nose and two point backwards in the top of her skull adored her non-human head.  
  
(spaces added) http:// cf.geocities.com/ digi_josied7/images/ Veedramon.gif  
  
Jeri noted two other things of interest.  
  
One, there was no secondary picture of a human being this time, which gave her chills all the way down to the tip of her lion's tail. Just like with her enemy Agouti. However Takato's parents knew perfectly well who they and everyone else was (besides the minor fact they weren't the right species). Had Agouti lost her memories so she wouldn't attack Jeri? Had the D-Arc protected her in some sense?  
  
And two, both images lacked any trace of the usual background ID info. Unlike when she'd scanned Hadesmon, there wasn't a single word of flavor text describing the complete digimon the device was pointed at.  
  
However, the screen wasn't totally bland. In nearly microscopic letters, a little blinking system note announced:  
  
Profile Update In Progress, Please Check Back Later. Have A Nice Day.  
  
Jeri blinked at the strange little message. "I wonder who programmed this little thing." Jeri whispered at the tiny machine.  
  
Many miles away, the ears of a man in a deep coma turned bright red in embarrassment.  
  
Back at the core plot, Takato's mother asked. "Why are you using that toy on me, dear? You've been over before."  
  
"Uh, just a habit I'm getting into," Jeri half lied.  
  
Forty-two minutes later, beached like a pod of whales trapped on dry land, the entire group laid prone on the floor moaning in discomfort. Only Jeri, nibbling calmly on the sole dinner roll she'd managed to save from wildly snapping jaws and clutching paws, remained standing. Stuffed to the brim, all the others had stomachs that appeared but a single bite away from detonation.  
  
With Guilmon resting by his side, Takatomon rubbed his painfully swollen belly and grudgingly protested a first time competitive defeat. Guilmon had beaten his best efforts by the sum of three breakfast rolls, two loaves of sesame seed bread, and an unfrosted cake before falling over.  
  
Lee hadn't been far behind.  
  
Too small to compete in the sheer number of items consumed category, the human turned digital bunny-dog had chosen size over quantity. In a move that must've violated several major laws of physics, Lee had jammed a roll of French bread into his tiny mouth and begun to swallow.  
  
Swallow. Not chew.  
  
Inch by inch the yard-long column of bread had vanished inexorably into his over-extended jaws. As Jeri watched in alarm, his spherical body rapidly stretched outwards to match the bread's dimensions. Her disquiet grew by leaps and bound when Lee's eyes suddenly flew open with a look of terrified human panic in their digimon depths.  
  
Snapped out of a digital-monster's hunger-induced trance by an incredibly strong sensation of fullness within his gut, Lee found himself sitting on the floor and growing heavier with each strained gulp. Not that it mattered; his actions were no longer under his conscious control, the bread was too far in to come out. Barely able to breath, he could only feel helplessly as his Lopmon esophagus pulled the roll the remainder of the way in on it's own.  
  
The act neared completion just as Jeri stepped forward. Even as her finger reached down to yank the bread from Lee's mouth, the final few inches slipped inside and he crashed face-up onto the floor. Looking like a fur-covered French loaf with a head, he waited for the incredible pressure in his middle to blow him apart.  
  
That moment never came.  
  
The immutable laws of physics were severely bent again when the bread distorting his body into a nearly perfect cylinder peculiarly vanished, and Lee, sighing deeply, returned to his 'normal' Lopmon shape. Terriermon had watched this all without a wit of worry, he had done that trick when Lee wasn't watching a dozen times.  
  
"Jeri?" Lee asked in a confused, but clearly human, tone. "What's wrong?"  
  
"It's... it's nothing," she lied. "I thought you were choking. Are you sure you're okay?"  
  
Finding the experience of what just happened much less off center than he should have, Lee replied, "I'm fine. I'm . . . heh, I'm still a little hungry though. You wouldn't have some extra bread on you?"  
  
"Just this," Jeri said hesitantly while extending her half- eaten bread-roll, "it's yours if you want it."  
  
"Thanks." The Japanese/Chinese youngster turned digimon began to munch on the bread roll.  
  
'At least he made the effort to chew this time.' Jeri thought as she gently placed Lee back on the floor and turned to survey the rest of the group.  
  
"Takato?"  
  
"Yes, Guilmon?"  
  
"My belly hurts." Guilmon whined while rubbing his stomach. His bloated belly had yet to even begin returning to its normal girth.  
  
"Mine too." Takatomon's middle matched the other dinosaur's girth inch for inch. Neither one was likely to be walking around soon under his own power. They passed the time with idle cit-chat.  
  
"You're so lucky, Takato. Jeri must be a really good Tamer, You digivolved already and I'm still waiting."  
  
"I know. Why don't you talk to Jerimon about that? Maybe she'll agree to be your Tamer too."  
  
"Share a Tamer? Thank you, Takato!"  
  
"But I'm still gonna be her number-one digimon. Got it?"  
  
"Okay. Share a Tamer. That's clever Takato. Where did you learn stuff like that?"  
  
"In school, I guess." Though he might have been more inspired from Digimon Movie Three.  
  
"I went to school too, Takato."  
  
"You did? Where?"  
  
" Right here in the Real World silly. Don't you remember? You left me all alone inside of the box. I got lonely and followed. I learned lots of things."  
  
"Like what, Guilmon?"  
  
"Well... principal doesn't like to play, and screams like a girl-mon."  
  
"That so?" Takatomon thought with a smile.  
  
"Nope. I also learned how small the place is where they keep all the digi-food. I ate everything there, it was good, but I was still very hungry."  
  
"You... you... you liked that stuff?" Takatomon asked incredulously.  
  
Something about Guilmon's claim to having enjoyed himself, when he had devoured the entire menu of the school cafeteria had struck a cord buried deep in his pre-transformation memories. Memories of watery gravy and burnt brownies rushed to the surface of his reprogrammed mind.  
  
Human memories.  
  
"Where you going?" Guilmon asked when Takatomon rose to all fours and began to slowly crawl towards the staircase leading to the second floor.  
  
Normally, Takatomon would go where any pre-teen Mon went to calm down and collect their thoughts, but since his parents didn't like him playing video games when he had friends over, he settled for his natural environment. His bedroom.  
  
"I don't feel well. I'm going upstairs to my room. You coming?"  
  
Entranced by a giant sized reptile baking bread and other pastries with the accuracy and preciseness of a human being, Jeri didn't notice their departure. For his part, Takatomon didn't give the action a second thought. After all, he'd seen his parents working in the family bakery all of his life. Hadn't he?  
  
With their bellies nearly scrapping the floorboards, the dinosaur duo laboriously clawed their way up the narrow stairs. Since the digivolved human had a smaller load in his stomach to carry, Takatomon led the way. And he'd be the first to recover when their impossibly fast digimon metabolism finally kicked in and the swelling went down.  
  
Climbing the stairs a few feet ahead of Guilmon, Takatomon reached the closed door at the top of the stairs first and came to a dead halt. Try as he might, he couldn't grab the slick doorknob in his claws! Grumbling loudly, he finally managed to open the door using both paws. The thought that he must've turned that knob a million times before without trouble never crossed his mind.  
  
Yamaki's out of control digital virus made sure of that.  
  
'Thank heavens for busy digi-moms.' Takatomon thought as the door swung open. The room was exactly like he'd left it: Total Chaos. From the sheer volume of clothes, schoolbooks, and pencil-colored drawings covering the floor, the odds of finding anything was minimal at best. A mother's worst nightmare, a ten-year-old's favored habitat.  
  
Well-worn Agumon pajamas from his previous evolution were still draped on a chair next to a blanket-size Digimon The Movie Four: Diablomon Strikes Back wall poster. His bedspread. A group portrait of the entire human / digimon cast of the first series: was still crumbled on the floor besides his bedroll where he'd left it. Perfect. Just like he liked it. It was a pity he didn't have a spare pair of goggles, but maybe it was for the best, he would just wreck them again next time he digivolved.  
  
The entire room was a shrine to everything digimon. Since he didn't have the yen to buy the entire cartoon show on video, he blew most of his allowance on the V-Tamer comic series. He'd have a comic book collection worth big bucks by the time he entered college. Provided, of course, he could keep his mother from throwing them away.  
  
Fat chance.  
  
If mothers didn't toss away their children's property away with nauseating regularity, comic books wouldn't become increasingly more expensive with each passing year in the first place.  
  
His collection of digimon underwear was nearly as large. If not for his mom's heartless demand that he not wear them on days he had Physical Education class, he'd wear nothing else. A habit his mom hoped he'd outgrow before high school. Looking himself over Takatomon knew that was no problem now.  
  
Upon arrival, Guilmon immediately dropped to the floor and curled up nose to tail-tip. The short climb had done wonders for reducing the pressure in his middle. A little nap now would be just what the digi-doctor ordered. In a matter of seconds, the red-scaled digital dinosaur was snoring gently and blowing little anime nose-bubbles.  
  
Takatomon, on the other hand, was having problems. Or, to be exact, a single problem: he couldn't find a single comfortable position on a mat he'd slept upon almost since he hatched.  
  
No matter how hard he tried, his heavy tail kept getting in the way. He practically chased it in circles trying to keep it under control. Finally, in desperation, he dropped to all fours and slowly dropped belly-down. Stretched out on the mat like a lizard on a warm rock, he sighed deeply and tried to fathom the cause of his discomfort.  
  
'What's wrong? This is my room. This is my bedroll. Why do I feel something's wrong?' Takatomon, the human child turned adolescent digital dinosaur, thought as his eyes scanned the room.  
  
Nothing. Everything was in its right place. Drawings he'd made when he should've been doing homework still covered his desk by the window. His backpack and a pile of dirty school clothes were still in the corner where he'd tossed them a couple days ago.  
  
Something was wrong. The scent. It was wrong. All his other senses told him everything was all right, but his sense of smell screamed something was amiss. His bedspread smelled funny and it didn't have anything to do with too much bleach in the washing machine.  
  
Mid thought, Takatomon jumped up and raced to the closet. Nearly tearing the flimsy door off its hinges, he swung it open to find his collection of shirts, pants, and shoes. The Humon clothing his mother had bought for him over the years.  
  
Reaching down, Takatomon snagged the lasses of a well-worn sneaker with a claw tip and lifted it to his nose. He needed little of his highly developed predator sense of smell to know it'd been worn only three or four days before, he knew it was his, but he still failed to find on it the one thing that could calm him.  
  
His scent.  
  
Digimon scents didn't change. Ever. Even when they evolved, they altered only slightly due to moods or external conditions, but the foundation was always the same. So why was the smell on the clothes he KNEW his old form had worn just days before so utterly different?  
  
'How could that be?' Takatomon thought as he compared his pleasant reptilian scent to the bizarre one coming from the recently worn Humon rookie shoes. Yes, there was no doubt about it. They were completely different. And it had nothing to do with anything he might've stepped in.  
  
'Maybe this is one of Impmon's pranks, ' he mused silently. 'He might've snuck into my room and sprayed with something while I wasn't here.'  
  
Once more Takatomon appraised the closet's contents. Everything looked familiar. No surprise really. His mother might be a fantastic baker and shrewd business-mon, but she had little imagination when it came to boys clothing. Takato could still remember how once he'd change his outfit every day for a week and everyone said he still looked exactly the same.  
  
"No use wasting money on stuff you're going to out-grow soon anyway." His mother had commented. Although, looking over his shoulder at the five foot long red-scaled appendage attached to his rear, strangely Takatomon thought in reply to that old memory, 'Did you have tails in mind when you said that, Mom?'  
  
***Attention. Operating System Error. Reconstruct Data From Back-Up Files.***  
  
The programming left behind by the now burned out virus coursing through Takatomon's brain tried its best to filter certain memories that were being accessed.  
  
It failed.  
  
* * *  
  
The mall was filled as usual; it was also just as noisy. Every store echoed with pleas of kids demanding expensive toys their parent's knew would be outdated, and forgotten, by month's end.  
  
And a younger Takato was easily one of the loudest and proud of it.  
  
Takatomon's mind's eye examined a smaller version of the Humon rookie he'd once been with amusement, but, strangely, the images seemed false somehow.  
  
That made no sense at all.  
  
It really hadn't been that long ago. He should have had no trouble remembering walking paw-in-paw, err. hand-in-hand, with his mother to avoid losing each other in that crowded mall that day. So why did it feel like this had happened in another life time?  
  
He could clearly see himself walking proudly in stride with his Mom mon, as if all the other kids could see through his shorts and jealously behold what his persistent assaults upon his mother's sanity had achieved, but the images seemed oddly colorless and covered in static. Much like you'd expect on videotape that'd been poorly erased or stored.  
  
Knowing how easily his father was to manipulate, his mother had taken Takato shopping instead of letting her son wipe out their credit cards on digimon plushies.  
  
Though even Takato had failed to gain a WonderSwan with the Tag Tamers video game, after yet another fierce battle, or so the images claimed, Takato had emerged victorious with a second prize that day, a transforming Agumon to Wargreymon, action figure. This would in turn be discarded a few weeks later when a Flamdramon figurine from season two hit toy store shelves across Japan. A feeling attached to these images said it didn't really matter what the toy was, just that it be the newest digimon related plaything on the market. Most kids were pulled into the idea digimon Takato had jumped in.  
  
And like any kid with a new toy, only then did the smiling human child reach a level of joy beyond anything the makers of Prozac could imagine. Guilmon's birth of few years hence would be the ultimate result of this ever-growing passion, and all because of a single sentence.  
  
"I wish digimon were real!"  
  
* * *  
  
Time froze.  
  
In much the same way that a tiny fragment of extraneous code can cause a computer program to crash, a seemingly insignificant memory of an event long past was causing Takatomon's digitized mind to go insane.  
  
His head was reeling. Wish digimon were real? But digimons were real! How could they be anything else? He was real. His friends were real. Why would he wish for something like that?  
  
Only self-protection instincts kept him from bashing his head through a wall to try to silence the baffling memory. A memory that was challenging everything he was sure he knew about himself.  
  
After a second of calm contemplation, Takatomon took the only sane option left to any rational child finding his, or herself, in a bizarre situation such as this.  
  
He was going to yell, "MOM! POP! ANYBODY! HELP!" and throw the house into a new frenzy. A scant two seconds before he could open his jaws however, the bedroom door swung open and Jeri entered, only by chance missing the still sleeping Guilmon.  
  
"Takato. Your mom wanted me to tell you she's finished making- Takato?"  
  
Jeri just stared at Takato who looked like he had seen a ghost, he had. The sight of his tamer relieved him enough to change his mood from utter panic to simple confusion. One for the data of him he couldn't sift through on his own, he needed help. He knew to his program-core he was a digimon, so what were these strange images and sensation? Listlessly he looked at his reflection in his bedroom window. His long tail landed on the floor behind him like a dead weight.  
  
* * *  
  
Just the night before, Lee had broken his self-imposed silence and explained how things had gone from bad to worse. In what he admitted was probably the least thought out action he'd ever taken, just before Jeri had herself been infected, he'd sent Takato back to his home to steal his drawings.  
  
Looking back, the theory seemed sound: get an important personal item from Takato's human life, and from there somehow have it inspire Takato's form to become human again. A simple plan really. And, like all plans, the devil hid in the details.  
  
What Lee hadn't counted on was the emotional trauma Takato would suffer if someone saw him. His father had reacted rather negatively to his presence and driven him out of the house. Totally understandable, discovering a red-scaled burglar rummaging through your missing child's things would upset most parents.  
  
Jeri, in turn, thought back on her encounter with Takato's mother while the woman was still partially human, and how sorry she'd felt for failing to recognize her son after he'd digivolved. Mistakes like that weren't unknown, the digivolving woman had explained in passing, just uncommon. Almost like they had a built in digivice, digimon could almost always recognize each no matter what. -Digimon were computer generated life forms, and computers could tell the difference between two identical files where a human could not. -  
  
'Okay,' Jeri mused making a mental note, 'we're going to have to get together soon and write all this down.' Jeri was beginning to realize just how small her perspective was. 'Although, some rules would have to be set before we start comparing notes.' Jeri actually managed a small smile as she visualized Kenta and Kazu over-dramatizing their parts. Not that any of it would ever get past editing, of course.  
  
* * *  
  
Epilogue: And so the great KAZU and KENTA, at great risk to life and limb, led their hapless companions on a glorious mission to destroy the evil menace threatening the world. After many even more glorious battles, they, with little help from their friends, vanquished the enemy and found a cure for the strange mutant virus that was-  
  
"Guys," Lee announced as he tried to block a television screen with his little body, covering the victory end game text. "I don't think you should play Takato's Dreamcast without permission."  
  
Downstairs, the pair in question was already deeply engaged in battle. Unfortunately, it wasn't likely one that would lead to anything but strained fingers and bleary eyeballs.  
  
It was stunning Kenta and Kazu could play the cutting edge game machine as it was. Kenta's hands had long ago become fully functional wings, and Kazu's suction cups on his spider like fingers kept getting stuck on the buttons. But the k- boys were determined not to let a change in species keep them from playing video games.  
  
"It's not our fault," Kazu complained, " that Takato's parents decided to store the thing down here while he was missing. Besides, " Kenta added in a resentful whine, "these things are going to be around forever, my family will never able to buy one used."  
  
Back upstairs; a far more difficult problem needed solution.  
  
The human child turned digimon looked at his Tamer with fearful maroon eyes. The 'bat wing' ears on his head lay flat against his skull.  
  
"Je-ri-mon. Ta-ka-to-mon . . .con-fused."  
  
Jeri gently pulled him towards her and pushed his great head down and calmly embraced him as he sobbed upon her side. Takato-mon felt safe in her arms. In this tiny space of the real world everything made sense, his Tamer would always be there for him. This was his place. She would be there to guide him.  
  
Jeri didn't want to be here. She wanted nothing to do with this harsh real world that'd taken away her mother, and, now, was taking her friends away one by one. Why couldn't reality be like her daydreams? Why couldn't everything be nice and pretty all the time?  
  
But feeling the same sense of responsibility that Takato and Henry had towards their digimon, Jeri too now felt the indescribable 'need' to stand by her friend no matter what. The undeniable need to protect. She would be there to guide him.  
  
Regardless of her fondest wish to escape a world that'd hurt her so deeply, to pull back and pretend life was nothing but a game where no one was every really harmed, she found herself looking into her Partner's eyes knowing 'this' is where she'd always been meant to be.  
  
Hurt by events in the past, and uncertain about where the future might lead, she knew in her heart that standing by her friend's side was the only place for her. Nothing else really mattered after that.  
  
Jeri the girl who lovingly entertained her half brother with her sock puppet, while shunning his mother.  
  
Jeri the ever exuberant girl so cheerful to the rest of the world that storm cloud parted for her.  
  
Jeri the girl who, even turned part digimon, was finally learning what it meant to be human.  
  
All the while, those eyes held her fast, begging her not to go away. And  
  
Jeri surprised herself by not being able to turn them down. In the back of her mind, before all this insanity had started, Jeri had hoped that Takato, the silly boy who drew monsters, would become her newest sanctuary from real life.  
  
As fate would have it, Jeri had become his.  
  
Jeri vowed never to fail him, never forsake him. Holding him tightly, she closed her eyes and repeatedly whispered her gratitude for his friendship. An unwavering devotion, and the Tamer knew that this one who she could let inside, past her defenses and show him the real her.  
  
The clouds outside finally broke, but if it was a light snowfall or shower, Jeri and Takato-mon didn't notice. Nor would they have cared.  
  
"It's alright Takato." She crooned soothingly. "It's all right. I promise we will get through this, together."  
  
Fin? Or continue? That, is up to you. Our writing staff is getting dangerously low, and I can't do this alone! The link to the MB with the story thread is in the bio of my author page, please help if you can. 


	16. Charles M's Revamp Do The Math

Howdy, this is a revamp of the previous chapter that's been rotting on the message board for five years.

Brainstorming is the term most commonly used when a group of people come together to solve a problem by examining all available options. As far as Lee was concerned, a light summer shower best described what the digivolved children, and their digimon partners, had been engaged in since Jeri's return.

"For the last time... WE CAN'T CALL A CAB, KAZU!!" Lee yelled upwards at a green scaled figure clinging upside-down to tree limb.

"What about...?" A clicking voice called from atop yet another tree several yards away before Lee cut it off mid-sentence.

"That goes double for a bus, Kenta. Come on everyone. Takato's house isn't that far away. There's got to be a way to get there without getting picked up by the police."

At the mention of his name, the red hued dinosaur paused in yet another impromptu wrestling match with his look-a-like digimon partner and said, "What about my idea, Leemon?"

Lee sighed deeply and hung his head low. He sighed even deeper when his eyes reminded him how vertically challenged he'd become. Being roughly a foot tall was something he'd yet to get use to.

"Four... five... six... err Takato-er,mon?" Lee replied as he finished counting his tiny furry toes in a nearly futile attempt to regain his usually mild-mannered composure.

"Yes, Leemon?"

"Just Lee. You promised not to a call me Leemon or Mon anymore. Remember?"

"Okay, Just Lee. Ouch!" Takato spins his large reptilian head around to find Guilmon's jaws clamped onto the tip of his tail. Growling softly in mock anger, he yanks it free and swats the grinning scaly digimon with the same heavy muscular appendage.

Lee sighs even deeper. Takato's mental state was as bad as ever. Unless jogged to the surface by a major traumatic event, the human version of his memories were completely buried under a copy of his digimon partner's pre-programmed instincts and behavior patterns.

Something had to be done about this situation soon. It was becoming increasingly obvious that Takato... the human Takato that is... would not likely exist as even dimly recalled memories much longer.

Could he, Henry Lee Wong, be far behind? What about the others? Except for Jeri and himself, the other former humans seemed oblivious to the behavior alterations that'd accompanied the gradual progression of their physical transformations.

Takato's current condition, as mentioned before, was the most pronounced. Not only did he look physically like a slightly older version his fun-loving red-scaled dinosaurian partner, his mental state was practically identical. For all intents and purposes he was

a digimon, and his growing over-protective slow-witted animal-like attachment to Jeri was, in a word, disturbing.

As for Kenta and Kazu, they were stuck somewhere in between. Both still had clear

memories of their former human lives, but neither seemed perturbed in the slightest to find themselves turned roughly halfway into digimon as they had before.

Case in point: While Lee and the others had spent much of the evening on the ground debating their next course of action, the feathered and scaly duo had crawled and flown about the nearby trees eating ever creepy-crawly and fruit in sight.

And what a sight they were.

Kenta had looked like a feathered balloon with wings. How he could get airborne looking like that was a total mystery to guess was the digimon super efficient digestive track. Kazu was even worse. Nothing even remotely edible within reach of his two yard-long tongue had a chance. On the other hand Kazu had held onto his modesty. But only because his black shirt managed to still go below the line of where he had to pull his pants to keep his newest limb from ripping apart one of his pant legs.

The whip-like lizard tail that'd grown through the seat of his pants was presently longer and heavier than his arms or legs. It was only a matter of time before it started dragging on the ground.

Jeri still, with a little effort, could pass for a human being. As long as she kept her lion-like tail tucked away, and avoided brightly lit places, a casual observer was unlikely to notice her clawed fingers. How long she'd remain the least mutated of the group was anyone's guess.

"Which brings the list down to me," Lee began to whisper in a fatalistic tone. _Former thirteen year old turned dime-store novelty item. Stick a price tag on my fuzzy rear and I'd look right at home among any little girl's collection of stuffed dolls._

_Is that my future? A toy? Or, will my fate be even worse? Will I ultimately evolve into something that endangers everyone around me? Will the inherent digimon urge to grow stronger through constant battling take control and force me to seek out a human Tamer?_

_And what will I become? Like I told Jeri. I've never had Lopmon in my deck. And I don't it's digivolution line. Maybe I'll become another Gargomon.A brown one? _

_When I think about it, it's rather funny. Only a few months ago I was blubbering like a baby because I thought I'd gotten a character in a computer game hurt, of course, that was after I found out he was a self aware creature that could live and die as much as me._

_What happens if I digivole? Will I still remember who I am... who I was? Or will I end up like Takato. And have that second transformation be the one that pushes me over the edge and rewires my personality to fit my new body? _

_After I turn into a huge rabbit-like ... whatever.... with weapons attached to my hands, will there be anything, anything at all, left of the human me? Or will I be nothing more than a mindless killing machine hungering for the data of my conquered foes like Gargomon slips into?_

_And what's going to happen when my Tamer inevitably bites off more than he or she can chew? Will it hurt to die in battle? What's that word Rika uses? That's right. Upload. Where will my soul go when a more powerful digimon rips me apart and uploads my data? Somehow I don't think all that killing is going to do my karma a bit of good. _

As Lee stood silently contemplating a dark future, his digimon partner had been fruitlessly attempting to get his attention. While no one could deny the unwavering friendship and loyalty the tiny digimon Rookie extended toward his once-human Tamer, it was obvious Terriermon had a long way to go before he learnt the meaning of the

words patience or tact.

Smiling broadly with a mischievous glint in his ebony-hued eyeballs, the long-eared bunny-dog lifted one of his Tamer's equally long brown ground-dragging Lopmon ears and yelled: "LEE!! YOU'RE NAKED!!"

Startled out of his woolgathering, Lee looked down at his unclothed fur-covered body and screamed. Every thirteen year-old teenager's most dreaded nightmare... suddenly awakening to find him or herself standing unclothed before a crowd... had just become a stark reality.

Before his conscious mind could recognize the true nature of the situation, he'd wrapped himself mummy-tight with his ears and fallen over. Terriermon was already prone on the ground. Unable to free a single limb, Lee could only watch helplessly as his digimon partner pointed in his direction and laughed hysterically.

The former-human's view was suddenly blocked by four immense toes

equipped with sharp ivory-white talons. The ever-curious Guilmon had left Takato's side and was looking down at him with a quizzical expression written all over his dinosaurian features.

Seconds later yet another identical pair of red scaled feet joined the first. Except for reptilian eyes that oddly retained much of their original human coloration, the curious look on Takato's face matched Guilmon's down to the tiniest detail.

"What Leemon doing, Takato?" Guilmon asked in his characteristic high-pitched nasal tone of voice.

"I don't know, Guilmon. But it looks like fun!" Takato replied in a barely distinguishable whining tone.

If Terriermon hadn't been so preoccupied enjoying his Tamer's predicament, he would've started running for cover the second either dinosaur mentioned that word.

All by himself, Guilmon had been bad enough. Not evil, of course, the red-hued saurian didn't have a mean bone in his entire body, but neither did earthquakes or other potentially destructive forces of Nature.

Yet, even when he'd been under Takato's tutelage and guidance... human tutelage and guidance that is... the crimson dino's knack for getting into trouble without even trying had been almost more than this Tamer could handle.

Now there were two of them.

With a combined attention span measurable in fractions of a second, and possessing a level of power far exceeding their Rookie status, the crimson saurian duo could be an unintentional hazard to anything, or anyone that attracted their attention... or ire.

And the latest subject of their interest, Terriermon, unfortunately failed to notice the dim light of inspiration glowing in two huge sets of reptilian eyes when they finished pawing the relatively short and inflexible batwing ears atop their heads and turned as one to

stare at him.

"MINE!!" Takatomon yelled as he reached down and grabbed an ear.

"MINE!!" Guilmon yelled simultaneously as he reached down and grabbed

the other.

Before he knew the danger he was in, Terriermon found himself hanging helplessly several feet off the ground. Feeling much like a stuffed toy about to be torn apart by careless rivaling siblings, he swayed from side to side as the two dinosaurs fought for sole use of his ears. The pain was excruciating.

Responding to instincts as old as his digital kind, he did what any sane digimon would do: he screamed in pain and called for his Tamer's

aid.

"LEE!! HENRY!! HELP ME!!"

The response was instantaneous.

Still prone on the ground, Lee opened his mouth and took a deep breath. Without conscious thought or hesitation, he screamed "Ice Pellets" and released the pent-up energy threatening to explode within his tiny frame.

Multiple bluish pulses of energy escape from his widely gaping jaws and streaked directly towards its intended target: Guilmon. A blink of an eye later more iridescent fire follows closely behind the first firing aimed at the second red lizard.

Both spheres impacted nearly simultaneously.

The two dino's grunted in pain as they were struck dead-center in the chest and thrown like rag dolls into the shrubbery beyond the clearing just outside Guilmon's destroyed home. The sound of breaking tree limbs and brush follows their meteoric departure.

Terriermon was unhurt. Except for sore ears and a tender spot on the bottom of his tail caused by a hard landing, his body was none the worse for wear. His mind was another matter altogether.

As the participant and spectator of many a digimon battle in the Digital World, he had no doubt about what Lee, his best friend and Tamer, had just done: Those blasts had been designed to kill.

No matter the level of digi-evolution, from infant to mega, every digimon had a finite amount of energy it could contain within its body. And, when that energy came to an end, so too would the digimon's existence.

Long before he was old enough to add Mon to the end of his name, wiser digimon had taught Terriermon the importance of balancing the amount of energy he could safely use to attack, versus what he had to hold in reserve to maintain his life. A lesson only the foolish or suicidal dared ignore.

Shooting that annoying Impmon out of a tree was one thing... that was simply exercise. Terriermon could do that all day without doing much damage to him or breaking out a sweat. But he knew on a conscious and instinctive level exactly what his attack reserve could accomplish.

Knock a digimon like Guilmon or Takato down? Yes. If he were lucky. But there'd be nothing left. He'd be running on fumes. Knock down two? No way. And blast both out of sight? Impossible!

It would take every shred of energy he had. There wouldn't be enough juice to keep on... LEE!!

Jumping to his feet, Terriermon stares in horror as Lee's body flickers like a florescent bulb coming to the end of its service life. Head, ears, torso, arms and legs... all momentarily fade from view. Even as the tiny digimon races towards his stricken human friend the oscillations increase in speed.

Data death will claim Lee within seconds.

Without even a flash of light and in a shower of brightly glowing particles, his life and soul would vanish. Terriermon didn't even know if Lee would reinitialize as a digi-egg somewhere else. His data might just scatter to the winds. Even if not absorbed, his information might be gone. Forever. Never to return to either the Real or Digital World.

Crying uncontrollably, Terriermon lifts Lee off the ground and cradles him within his arms as everyone crowds around. Even the returning saurian twins, covered head to foot in dirt and leaves but otherwise unhurt, walk over to see what the excitement is all about.

Lee feels nothing but a soothing tingling sensation. Even Terriermon's arms, wrapped tightly around his body, fail to make much of an impression as vision and hearing begins to fade away.

"Well," Lee thought, "that it. Game over. Score zip. And not a single reset button in sight."

Knowing full well how useless it was, Terriermon still couldn't help himself. He yelled, "Hang in there, Lee! You can get through this! Just hang on!"

Lee heard none of it. With eyes that were rapidly becoming cold and vacant, he watched with almost passionless interest as Terriermon's lips moved and tears welled within his eyes.

_What could the problem be? _Lee thought. _Maybe he wants something. Could he need protection from my little sister, Susie? No, that can't be it. She's not here to dress him up in dolly clothing or stuff him full of imaginary play tea. Darn it! I must be the worst Tamer in history... wait. Takato always use to say he was. That would make me number two. Wouldn't it? It's getting so hard to think._

_What could I be forgetting? That's it! I haven't feed him today. Maybe he needs food. But I don't have any. Do I? No... I remember now. There's none here in the park. So what can I give...? That it! My digimon card deck! The cards give him energy to fight. All I've got to do is... _

Almost besides himself in grief, Terriermon failed to notices when Lee's paw slowly lifted off his furry chest and pointed towards a pocket on his black shorts that Jeri was wearing. With the finely tuned senses of nature's long dead ultimate predators, the two dinosaurs notice the nearly imperceptible movement and turned to see what the tiny furry fingers were aimed at.

"Terriermon?" Takatomon whined. The distraught digimon ignored him. Seeking comfort during this tense moment, he moved from Guilmon's side and brushes cat-like against Jeri. She, in turn, without realizing what she was doing, petted him gently atop his scaly head as if he were a dog in distress.

"Thank you... Tamer?" He begins to speak aloud before he slams his toothy jaws shut in confusion. _Why am I calling her that? _He thinks. The fog of digimon programming smothering his human personality lifts a tiny sliver. _Isn't that what Guilmon's supposed to call me? Something's wrong with Lee. Shouldn't I be doing something to help? _

Once again his eyes followed towards where Lee's fingers were pointing.

Turning his head at Jeri's attire, she began to feel uncomfortable when he started to sniff her body. An animal has only two reasons to smell another creature, when it thinks it's food or a mate. Jeri didn't know which made her more scared. But Takato would never hurt her. Right? He just couldn't. She froze when he began poking her. The fur on her tail standing up on ends as his claws that could easily tear her apart probed every pocket. Only Takato's universal desire not to harm his best friend/Tamer, kept him from turning the pants and polyester shirt to shreds.

Within one pocket at last one of his claws comes into contact with cardboard cards laced with electronics held together with a rubber band. _That's Lee's digimon deck._ Takatomon muses as he carefully pulls out the cards and removed the restraining band. One particular card, and the creature depicted upon it, causes the fog to lift a bit more.

_Why would he want this? Is his Tamer going to have a battle? Who is Lee's Tamer? And why would he need a Tamer anyway? _

His turbulent pondering were interrupted by a heartbreaking scream, "Don't die, Lee! Please don't die!"

The fog vanishes before the first echo of the anguished cry returned.

"Lee is in danger." As if awakening from a long comfortable sleep, Takato's human thoughts and personality filled a reptilian brain and assumed command. Something had to be done before it was too late.

Looking down at his altered body, Takato knew in an instant he was in no condition to aid his friend. Using the quick wit that'd won him many a digital monster card battle against his schoolmates in the school playground... but had done little to get him out of trouble for being constantly late to class... he forcefully thrust the card into Jeri's hands.

"Take this! There isn't much time!" he screams. Jeri is startled speechless to hear Takato's voice, Takato's normal human voice, coming out of those wide-spread flame-throwing jaws. Without a second of hesitation, she tears the digivice off her borrowed clothing and drops it into her hands too.

"Go, now! Save him... please!" Takato felt the fog returning. His time was done. _It's all up to Jeri now, _he arduously envisions as his mind reforms to match with his now inhuman instincts once more. His final thought, _What happens next will be up to her. Will she understand what needs to be done in time? _Then Takatomon wonders what he was so worried about himself for. He understood Leemon was in serious danger of dying. And he had given his Tamer a card to fix things. What was he so worried about forgetting?

Jeri just stared blankly as Takatomon wordlessly turned around and walks away. There isn't the slightest sign in his body language or movements to indicate that he remembered the reason he left Guilmon's side in the first place, or why it was so important that he give Jeri this particular card out of Lee's deck.

"Ugly little thing." Is the only comment Jeri makes aloud as she examines the card.

Despite the overwhelming popularity of the animated digimon television show and card game, Jeri had never spent much time on either. She'd been way too busy having fun psyching people out with her beloved hand-puppet and crazy girl act. Takato, on the other hand, apparently lived solely to scribble stuff like this. But this... thing... was far weirder than anything she'd ever seen him doodle. For the life for her, she couldn't image why someone would want to dream up a bunny that looked like this.

_What a second! _Jeri screamed mentally as the image on the card burned into her mind. "Is this what Lee... I mean, a Lopmon... is supposed to turn into eventually? Maybe that's why Takato gave it to me? Maybe this can save Lee's life... AAGGHHHH!!! Maybe I am crazy. What am I doing wasting time talking to myself?!"

From the moment she'd first laid eyes on the card, to the moment she swiped it through her digivice, maybe five seconds had past. It had almost been five seconds too many. Lee was literally but a shadow of his former self and fading to nothingness for perhaps the last time. Praying that she hadn't been too late to save his life, she aims the tiny screen towards him.

Her prayers are almost instantly answered.

With maybe a second to spare, Lee was bathed in the eye-searing light that explodes from the tiny device. The same device that'd caused Jeri, and her family, so much grief seemed almost eager to make up for the pain it had caused, the light was similar to the one released when Rika regained her true memories, but something about it ringed different.

As everyone crowding around coverd their eyes against the glare, Lee's digitized body undergoes an even more bizarre series of transformations. And none are so weird as the first.

Between one breath and another, Lee was gone. In his place was something vaguely similar to what anyone who'd seen the digimon cartoons would expect his look-a-like, Terriermon, evolve into: a Gargomon.

Emphasis on the vaguely.

And, unlike the digital monsters that'd befriended the make-believe humans in the cartoon show, he looked anything but friendly. While it was true he was nowhere near as stomach-turning or bizarre looking as some of the characters depicted in the animated series, or upon his extensive collection of digimon playing cards, Lee's new form left little doubt as to his function.

Take away a Gargomon's gargo-blasters, Terriermon's evolved form, and he's not much more than a jovial fun-loving human-sized rabbit with a serious weight problem. Lee's evolved form, as a Lopmon that is, looked anything but happy or fun-loving. In fact, he looked exactly like card proclaimed him to be: an assassin.

He didn't remain that way for long. A handful of seconds at most, but it was long enough long enough for everyone to lock eyes with a tall thin-framed merciless killer-rabbit and reflexively take a step back in fear.

Only Terriermon remained frozen in place. Just inches away from the enormous scalpel-sharp blades attached the other digimon's gloved hands; he feared the slightest movement could result in his instantaneous impalement and destruction.

Considering the nature of the other digimon, it was a wise choice.

Their uneasiness was as short lived as the delight Lee experienced moments later. With no visible transition whatsoever, the deadly looking digimon vanished and a naked thirteen year old human teenager. Lee was back.

Jeri's D-Power meanwhile shuddered.

Before he could even examine his hands and smile, they were once again the tiny fur-covered paws of a digital monster. It had happened in less than a second. Not even a transition. His format had changed back and forth in a flash. His human body had been taken from him yet again. It was more than he could bear.

"Momenti... Lee." Terriermon whispered as his Tamer began to cry uncontrollably.

Demonstrating their unwavering support in his time of grief, all his friends reached down and squeezed his shoulder before moving away. Except for Terriermon who remained steadfastly by his Tamer's side, Lee's struggle to regain his composure would remain a private affair.

The card Jeri had used had gone read hot, but had blacked in the slightest, by all logic it should have caught on fire, but it didn't. Her D-Power in kind felt hot in her hand, but not scalding like the card.

Completely forgotten, a wayward child looked at all of this in confusion and dread. Why was everything so unhappy now? When such a sort time ago everything was testy but still, happy at it's core. True, his friends had to make all the bad digimon go away, but that didn't make them bad. And why did he suddenly feel better for a split moment when Lee looked like how he used to? All Calumon knew was that what was going on was wrong. It wasn't how it was supposed to be. And there wasn't a single thing Calumon could do about it. Why was he scared so much now? Why couldn't he just be happy like he always was?

"What we do now?" Kenta and Kenta asked simultaneously.

"I don't know." Jeri replied. "Lee was always the one good at making plans."

"What about the tunnel, Jeri?" Takatomon suddenly yelled breaking into the conversation.

Jeri blinked. "What tunnel?"

Takatomon was clearly confused. He had no idea why he'd just spoken. It was like something deep inside him had momentarily risen to the surface and, just as rapidly, vanished once again. Only the hazy image of a long and extremely dark man-made cave remained. Something about it made him uneasy.

"That's it!" Kenta replied fluttering his wings so rapidly he lifted off the ground. "The entrance is near the park's entrance. If we can reach it unseen, we should be able to get right next to the school without being spotted.

"And what will that accomplish?" Jeri replied. "We're trying to get to Takato's home, remember?"

"You're a genius, Kenta!" Kazu exclaimed slapping the flying human-digimon hybrid in the back so hard he nearly knocked him out of the air.

"The school is closed and under quarantine. If we keep far enough way that the guards can't see us, it's unlikely we'll run into anyone walking around nearby. Who'd want to take a chance of getting too close to the school and wind up looking like us anyway? The bakery can't be more than a couple blocks from there."

As much as she hated to admit it, Kenta was right. With a little luck they might be able to pull it off. Although, considering their well-deserved reputation for getting into trouble, Jeri had a bad feeling in the pit of her stomach doing anything either one of them suggested.

"Okay. It's a plan. Let's get going before something bad happens." Jeri announced in a loud voice so everyone could hear.

"What about...?" Kenta replied pointing his beak in Lee's direction. He was obviously in no condition to travel under his own power.

"Takatomon know what to do!" Takatomon suddenly announced and turned around.

Followed closely behind by Guilmon, Takato walked away. A second later both dinosaurs stood silently over Lee and Terriermon. Nothing was said. Nothing needed to be said. Terriermon nodded once and the saurian duo moved as one.

With the gentlest of motions, Takato placed Lee atop his head while Guilmon did likewise to Terriermon. Sighing deeply, Lee seemed to slip into a trance. He'd always wondered why his digimon Partner took every opportunity to travel like this. Now he knew. The feeling of security... of knowing someone loved and cared for him... was almost more than he could comprehend.

The future might be unknown, but now, this moment, he was at peace.

The voice was small, innocent, it really didn't belong in the middle of such bitter sweet emotions. But it was there all the same. "Hey! Can I come too?" Calumon.

Jeri took one look at the white, well, whatever animal he was based off of, that had scared her out of her wits weeks before and took him in her arms. "You can come with me." She said.

Calumon smiled. "Thank you."

Takatomon let out a slight growl of jealously, almost wishing he was small enough for Jeri to carry. He satisfied himself with the knowledge that when he digivoled he would be big enough to carry Jeri around.

One by one the group silently left the park en route to the tunnel, and, eventually, Takato's home. What they would find there, or how they would be received, was anyone's guess. It didn't matter. For each one in his or her heart knew an inviolable truth: as long as they were together there was hope. And nothing, human or digimon, would ever change that.

Several miles away, life continued as usual. Bread had to be made and

baked, and hungry customers served. In fact, many more customers than

usual had been keeping the Matsuki family bakery busier than usual.

Naked except for the white cotton aprons tied around their wide

middles... it wouldn't be accurate to call it a waist, dinosaurs

simply don't have one... two seven-foot tall, three hundred pound

plus saurians did their best to keep an evermore famished clientele

happy and supplied with fresh bread.

The fact that their long-time neighbors, and increasingly frequent

customers, were looking less and less human with each passing hour

did little to reduce their work load. If anything, the more 'normal'

they appeared to the saurian pair, the more they seemed able to eat.

Neither of the two found this remarkable in the slightest. Digimon ran

on energy. And if they don't get it by consuming the data of

vanquished foes defeated in battle, they had to eat.

And nothing in the Digital or Real worlds can out-eat a digimon.

"Come now dear," a gravely, yet somewhat feminine, voice demands as

yet another bread roll vanishes down the widespread jaws of a

towering blue-scaled dinosaur.

"Leave some for the customers. That's the eighth you've eaten in the

last hour."

"I'm sorry." The Allomon replied trying to look embarrassed as it

hide another roll within its huge clawed paw.

"You know how I get when I'm worried. We haven't seen claw or scale of

our son for two whole days!" a slightly rougher masculine voice

replied.

Except for type, a casual human observer is likely to have great

difficulty differentiating between digimon of the same species.

Looking as they do like mass produced gender-less plastic toys; a

non-digimon usually requires considerable practice to distinguish one

individual animal-type digital monster from

others of its own kind.

A fact that amuses most digimon no end.

Fortunately, in this particular case, even the least observant peeping

tom would have little trouble telling this pair of married saurian

digimon apart.

"I know dear." The slightly lighter cerulean hued female answers as

she gently rubs her fang filled jaws against her mate's equally

well-endowed muzzle.

"But that humon on the phone said Takatomon was safe and sound with

all the other children. You don't think someone from the government

would actually lie to us?"

"But when will he come home?" The nearly imperceptibly larger of the

two dinos whines worriedly as he continues to expertly knead the lump

of dough atop a the table with his massively clawed paws.

"Soon dear," Takato's V-Dramon mother answers in the most soothing

tone her reptilian vocal cords can manage as she opens the bread

oven. She is equally worried about the fate of their only child, but

it would not be right to show it now.

There was no telling what might happen if her husband got out of

control. He'd always been the more emotional, and least

disciplinarian, of the two by far.

Given a choice, he would much rather spoil their son rotten than spank

his scaly bottom. If provoked by worry, her husband might go stomping

through the front door and do something silly. Think of the

embarrassment! How would she ever look her neighbors in the face if

he Thrashing-Clawed the entire city to rubble?

Besides, as far as their daydreaming son was concerned, it was always

best for a young Mon to learn how cruel and unforgiving life could be

early rather than too late.

The world could be a dangerous place; and both of his parents were

clearly guilty of being overprotective of their sole offspring.

Despite the risk, and how much it hurt her to even think it, perhaps

it was time for Takatomon to literally fight own battles.

Regardless, she had no doubt he would come home soon. What role, if

any, he had to play in the strange goings-on at his school was still

unknown, but she was sure he'd have an excuse that would be as

transparently false as a glass of water. He always did. But he was a

good Mon nonetheless. If only he would concentrate more on his

studies.

"How peculiar," she suddenly said out loud. "Talking about

concentration, why am I having such a hard time remembering what my

child looks like? No matter. It must be stress. But my memory sure

seems clouded of late. Hummm... although I still vaguely recall his

teacher complaining about something. What was her name? That's it.

Ms. Usagi. Or was that Ms. Usagimon?"

The aforementioned teacher had once sent a note complaining about her

son's lack of attention in class, and a memory of the incident had

somehow survived intact within her digitized brain. She could still

clearly recall the letter saying that, for apparently the millionth

time, her son had been locked out of his classroom as a punishment

for being late. And that she, the teacher, was upset that he spent so

much time drawing funny looking pictures and playing card games

instead of studying.

Suddenly noticing the empty oven brings her mind back to the present.

As long as she could keep her husband busy in the bakery, and eating

half the profits, things should remain calm until Takato's return. If

not, the city wouldn't have to worry about Takato's father going on a

rampage. She'd go outside and rearrange a few buildings herself.

"Dear? Could you please come here and warm this oven?"

"One Blaze Blast coming right up!"

Not having to use expensive electricity or gas to operate their ovens

was doing wonders for the financial success of this family business.

* * * * * *

Fortunately, for the city, the subject of her concern was drawing

nearer by the second. Unfortunately, for the same city, the aftermath

of his slow progress home would be extremely expensive to repair.

"Are we there yet?" Takato whines as he peers into the surrounding

darkness apprehensively.

His concern was echoed almost instantly by a very similar voice, "Are

we there yet?"

Guilmon didn't like being in the underground tunnel any more than his

reptilian clone.

None of the group did, actually.

And having to hear "Are we there yet?" every few seconds was making

the tunnel seem longer than anyone could remember

Tokyo city financial planners had obviously decided that more than a

bare minimum of light fixtures would be an irresponsible waste of

yen. Due this unfortunate penny-pinching decision, darkness reigned

in much of the tunnel except for a few pools of yellow light directly

beneath each low wattage bulb.

Not that anyone could find fault with their logic. How could they

possibly imagine the consequences if a pair of high-stung reptiles

ever chose to travel via this route?

Make that a couple extremely overprotective, and very, very, nervous

reptilians armed with built-in flame-throwers. After the tenth Pyro

Blast, Lee stopped counting and tried to meditate while resting

comfortably atop Takato's flat head.

'Yes. Without a doubt,' he thought. 'This is going to be a looong

trip.'

Hopefully, it wouldn't be a final trip for a hapless local citizen who

happened to be traveling in the opposite direction.

As it was, the local city rat population had already suffered a

noticeable decline. Ten of their long-tailed and sharp-toothed

brethren ... with Guilmon leading the score six to Takato's four...

had already gone to rodent heaven in a blast of digital dragon fire.

How repair crews would explain all the holes they'd blasted into solid

concrete and steel was anyone's guess. With any luck, the group would

be long gone before anyone showed up to investigate the damage.

As Takato drew a deep breath in preparation of sending yet another

rodent to its eternal reward, Lee reached down and rapped his

miniature knuckles atop a bone-hard prehistoric skull, "Leave them

alone, Takato! Don't you think you've done enough damage for one

night?"

"But... but... but Guilmon's winning!" The teenager turned

flame-throwing reptile replied.

Knowing how futile it would be to debate the issue, especially when

Guilmon and Takato were already heavily engaged in yet another

competitive endeavor, Lee wisely decides to take their greatest

weakness into account.

"Okay. Tell me then. Guilmon has fried six rats, and you've blasted

four. How many more do you need to incinerate to break even, Takato?

Guilmon?"

Looking totally stunned, the scaly duo march forward side by side in

total silence. Lee begins to feel guilty as the sound of mental gears

grinding against each other almost becomes audible. Not really,

something in the back of his mind, a little Lopmon voice, is laughing

hysterically.

Sighing deeply, Lee makes himself comfortable. There was no telling

how long calm would reign, probably no more than a few minutes, but

until they calculate the correct answer... unlikely in the extreme...

or something else attracts their hair-trigger curiosity.... much more

likely... he might as well enjoy the ride.

"Lee?"

"What is it?"

"Can I come up?" Calumon asks breathlessly. The tiny rotund digimon

had jumped from Jeri's hands and was presently running as fast as he

could just to match Takato's slow measured pace.

"Sure, Calumon. Climb up. But I'm not sharing. Takato's head is all

mine."

"Okay."

Bouncing up Takato's scale-covered tail and spine like the basketball

he so closely resembled, the child-like digital monster was soon

close enough to speak comfortable with the former human.

"What's the matter? Are you hungry? We should be reaching the bakery

soon."

From his perch atop Takato's shoulder, Calumon replies with a single

word, "No."

"You're not hungry?" Lee answers in mock shock at the albino beach

ball clinging to Takato's neck. "Really? Who are you? And what have

you done to the real Calumon?!"

Any further comic commentary dies in his throat when he notices the

tears welling in Calumon's eyes. Something was upsetting the little

fur ball, and, from the look of sheer terror stretched across the

digimon's usually carefree features, Lee was sure he didn't want to

know the cause.

"Damn! Why me?" Lee thinks ruefully as he looks in all directions for

the source of danger. "It always comes down to me! Why couldn't I

turn into something dumber than mud that lives to eat and have fun

like Takato?"

"Hey!" Takato yells clearly insulted by Lee's outburst.

"Sorry, Takato. No offense intended." Lee replies in all sincerity.

As he opens his mouth to expand on his apology, he suddenly finds his

words altered by a snide, and irreverent, personality hiding just

beneath his consciousness.

"I'm sure you're every bit as smart as mud!" an alien voice with

Lopmon overtones yells into one of Takato's batwing ears.

"That's okay then." Takato answers instantly mollified. It takes

several seconds for the true nature of the comment to penetrate his

mild-mannered character. Growling in anger, too much like a raptor

for Lee's taste, he proceeds to shake his head violently from side to

side.

Calumon wisely jumps off and bounces back to the safety of Jeri's

hands while Lee, or rather the foreign personality that'd suddenly

usurped command of his transformed body, decides it'd be much more

fun to stick around and enjoy the ride.

Hollering and whooping in excitement like a rodeo cowboy atop a

bucking bronco, Lee finds himself hanging onto both of Takato's ears

for dear life as the red-scaled dino did his best to shake him off.

His fun was short-lived. Almost as soon as it started, Jeri yells.

"Knock it off you two! We've got trouble coming!"

The very instant the word trouble reaches his outlandishly huge Lopmon

ears, Lee Wong, the studious and serious minded thirteen year old

human Lee Wong, is once more in sole command of his digitized body.

Just as quickly as it had appeared, the 'other' is gone. Or is it?

'Not likely.' Lee comments gloomily within the confines of his own

thoughts.

For now, but for how much longer Lee wonders, it seemed content to let

Lee's mind run the show. Perhaps it recognized... whatever 'it'

was... that Lee's intellect and human memories were its best chance

for survival in the Real World.

'And when it doesn't need... me... anymore? What then?" Lee asks

himself close to tears.

"Get over here, Lee! I need you!" Jeri shouted from several yards

away. Except for Takato and himself, everyone else is already crowded

around looking at something in her hands.

With an unconscious skill that was rapidly becoming second nature, Lee

spreads his ears widely apart and launches himself into the air.

Gliding faster than this miniature legs could ever carry him, he is

soon perched atop her head and looking down at her digivice.

"What up?"

"It beeped." Jeri replied. Her eyes remain fixed on the machine, or

rather, the small glass screen in the center of the device. "And

something about the noise it made spooked Calumon."

"Do you know what that sound means?" Lee asks. Like everyone else, he

finds his eyes drawn to the dark, and apparently, inactive device.

"I'm the one asking you. You've had one of these things longer than

me."

"I don't have a clue, Jeri."

"Really?"

"Yep. All I ever used it for was to power-up or digimodify,

Terriermon. Oh... I almost forgot. It's good for tracking and

identifying digimon too."

"What if I press all the buttons?" Guilmon interrupts. Before she can

even think of moving, a large white claw tip is hovering only a

fraction of an inch above the device.

"I... really... don't think it'd be wise to do that, Guilmon."

"Why not?" Guilmon asks as the sharp tip of his claw drops even

closer.

"No one knows what those buttons do. How would you feel if it turned

you... if it turned all of us... into scrambled digieggs?"

With his claw poised above the same device Jeri had seen cause so much

grief and pain already, Guilmon stands rock-still apparently deep in

thought. Except for Calumon and Takato who erroneously believe

they're watching some new kind of game, everyone else has beads of

anime panic-sweat forming on their brows.

"That wouldn't be fun." Guilmon suddenly announces in a disappointed

tone and steps back.

Sighing deeply, Lee mentally promises to stop at a Shinto shrine at

the earliest opportunity. Escaping a near-disaster like that

definitely merited a thank-you prayer or two. His thoughts were

mirrored almost word for word by Jeri, Kenta, and Kazu.

After using his ears to parachute gently to the ground, Lee waves a

paw at Calumon inviting him to follow. Still looking scared out of

his wits, Calumon eventually drops by his side, and, once again, Lee

is shocked by how tiny he has become. The soccer-ball sized digimon

standing in front of him is only a couple finger-widths shorter than

he.

"Damn," he thought. "Could this get any worse?"

"Sure," a familiar sounding voice replies within the confines of his

brain, "you could be nothing but a head... no body... just a head. A

big-eyed digimon head without legs, arms, or torso. Getting around by

bouncing on your rear end is a lot easier than it looks. You might

feel uncomfortable sitting on a toilet at first. Homons don't usually

have butts attached to their heads... do they?"

"Get out! Get out! Get out!" Lee screams as he pounds his skull with

both paws. The voice just laughs as his friends looked on wondering

if he'd gone crazy. Promising to return, "I'LL BE BACK!!", the voice

fades rapidly away and Lee finds himself once again alone within his

brain.

"Whoooo... you okay, Lee?" An owl-like voice inquires from several

feet directly overhead. Flapping his wings at high speed to maintain

a stationary hover, Kenta is staring inscrutably down at him. Only

the somewhat human tone of his voice betrays his sincere concern for

Lee's welfare.

Sometime during their trip through the tunnel, his few remaining human

facial features had completed their avian transformation. His beaked

Owlmon face is now no more capable of displaying human emotions than

any other bird.

Visibly shocked by what his friend had become, Lee lies, "It's

nothing. I'm fine."

"Whoooo... that's good. You had us worried."

Looking around, Lee fails to spot Kenta's inseparable companion.

"Where's Kazu?"

"Whoooo... he's way up there. He said something about not liking rats.

Are you sure you don't need any help?"

Lifting his gaze even further, Lee can just barely see a dark green

shadow clinging upside down to the tiled ceiling. Using the

suction-cupped digits on his hands and feet, Kazu is clearly able to

move up there with the same ease a human walks on flat ground.

"I'm fine!" Lee shouts back. "How about you go look for a cracker and

let me talk to Calumon. Okay?"

"Whoooo... whatever you say." Kenta replies deferring to Lee's

leadership role in the group.

"Don't be afraid," Lee speaks in a far gentler tone when he notices

how terrified the digimon child still appeared. "It was only a

'beep', digivices make that kind of noise all the time. It's nothing

to worry about."

The scared-out-his-wits look in Calumon's baseball-sized eyes doesn't

decrease one iota.

"Let me take a wild guess, it wasn't the beeping sound that's got you

upset, right?"

If Calumon had anything remotely resembling a neck, his emphatic

nodding would've broken it.

"Damn! I was afraid you were gonna say something like that. Let's try

this... it's what the 'beep' means? Something bad?"

By the time Calumon stopped nodding, Lee's neck felt sore in sympathy.

"Double damn! As if we don't have enough trouble all ready. How about

you... and please don't nod anymore, I don't think my neck could take

it... point where the danger is coming from."

Not even brave enough to look in that direction, Calumon aims a tiny

paw along the same bearing they'd been heading. Far in the distance,

but close enough to be clearly visible, is the other end of the

tunnel. The source of whatever had terrified the little digimon

couldn't be more than forty or fifty feet away.

"Run or fight? Run or fight? Run or fight?" Lee's mind races in

circles as he debates what best to do.

Normally, there wouldn't be any question about it: He'd run away. By

nature he was a life-long pacifist. Even the thought of deliberately

harming a Make-believe digital creature... at least, what he'd once

believed was only a lifeless animated character in a video game...

had been more than he could bear. Not now. By no wish of his own,

fate had entrusted him with the safety of his friends.

Running away in panic would doubtlessly leave someone behind. Alone.

In the dark. Helpless. Something he vowed would never happen while he

drew breath.

"We fight!"

Without hesitation or discussion, a battle line is drawn across the

tunnel's width. In the center, Takato and Guilmon. They could defend

the group at a distance, or, if the unknown threat somehow survived

their fiery welcome, they had the best odds of prevailing in a claw

to claw confrontation.

To Takato's right and Guilmon's left, Lee and Terriermon stood ready

to lend their guidance and support. Their attacks might not be

anywhere near as powerful, or as long ranged, but anyone on the

receiving end of their Bunny Blasts and Ice Pellets would definitely

find the experience less than enjoyable.

High overhead, Kenta and Kazu prepare to drop down upon their unknown

attacker, or attackers. Misfits to the core of their beings, the pair

had put way their argumentative and indecisive natures. And neither

was under any illusion. If it became necessary to sacrifice their

lives, so be it. It would a small price to pay. The survival of their

friends came first.

Only Jeri and Calumon stand slightly aside of the warriors preparing

to do battle. Her duty is clear:.. protect the defenseless Calumon

and escape if it becomes necessary. Someone had to. All hope for

finding a cure for the mysterious plague mutating the inhabitants of

Tokyo might die if none of them survived.

"Eyes front everyone! We can be under attack any second!" Lee shouts.

Like everyone else, he is completely focused on the tunnel opening

just ahead and the assault he expects to be launched against them at

any moment.

About the latter, he is absolutely correct. Roughly a second later his

prediction comes true.

His guess as to the direction couldn't have been more in error.

"BADA-BOOM!! BADA-BOOM!!"

Two reddish-yellow fist-sized fireballs streak out of the darkness

behind them. Both impact their intended targets: two wide red-scaled

dinosaur posteriors.

Yelping in pain, Takato and Guilmon spin around screaming "Pyro

Blaster!"

Their fiery replies to the sneak attack is almost instantly joined by

several "Ice Pellets" and "Blazing Fires" coming from Lee and

Terriermon, and a fist-sized rock Jeri had picked off the ground.

'It might not count for much against what's out there, ' Jeri muses,

'but every bit counts. Right?'

No truer words had ever been thought.

Except for making more work for the repair crew that'd have to clean

up the mess, none of their counter-attacks comes close to tagging

their unknown, and hysterically laughing, assailant. Well hidden in

the darkness beyond the tiny light bulb burning above the group's

heads, their attacker felt safe from any retaliatory strike. The fact

that its victims felt compelled, in stereotypical digimon manner, to

announce their counter moves before launching only made them that

easier to avoid.

A rock thrown without any verbal warning whatsoever was simply

unthinkable. Things like fireballs, lightning bolts, energy blasts,

gusts of steel-hard air were perfectly normal and to be expected.

Digimon could throw these, and many odder things, in combat if need

be. But a rock?

"OUCH!!"

Demonstrating a child's microscopic attention span, Calumon's

terrorized whimpering suddenly switches to gleeful laughter.

Whispering something so quietly that even Jeri's cat-like hearing can

discern it, the little digimon wiggles out of her grasp and bounces

into the darkness giggling.

"Calumon! Get back here!" Jeri yells running close behind.

Without a word, the rest of the group break ranks and follows as fast

as they can. Not exactly the wisest course of action when dealing

with an unknown threat, but a very, very human one when someone dear

to their hearts, human or otherwise, may be in imminent danger.

Lee's response, when he spots the 'imminent danger' laying on the

dirty tunnel floor with a goose-egg size lump on his forehead, is a

rather predictable, "Aw... crud! It's was just that dork Impmon

messing around in the dark."

Dazed and only semi-conscious, the little purple demon digital monster

respond to the depreciating remark by reflex alone.

"Hey! I'm an evil digimon of the night! I haunt the darkness!"

"Yeah, and I can see why." Lee observes sarcastically. "The less

people see of you, the better. You're more Bozo than Beelzebub."

"Watch it, bunny!"

"That's... Mr. Bunny... to you!"

"You mean . . it was you who scared us, Impmon?" Calumon asks in a

hurt tone.

"Of course! And you were stupid enough to fall for it... dummy!"

"Cool! How about you let me scare you next time?" Calumon replies

suddenly excited at the prospect of a new game.

"Wha?! They'll be ice-skating competitions in digimon limbo before

that happens!"

Lee, or rather the semi-dormant digimon portion of his altered

personality, smirks mentally and taps Impmon on the shoulder with one

of his huge ears. When the pint-sized digital monster turns to look,

he finds the former human looking back at him innocently with his

arms hanging limply by his sides. Terriermon needs no further

prompting to get into the act. Gags like this are a major part of

their shared behavior programming.

Bending over, the beige furred bunny-dog pushes Calumon within a inch

of Impmon's spine after whispering something into his ear. Nodding

his acceptance to his role in this impromptu scheme, the little

rotund digimon scrunches up his bland facial features and bugs out

his immense eyeballs.

Grabbing the eggplant colored tail, Calumon gives it a strong yank

while yelling 'Boo!' in the loudest and deepest voice his tiny lungs

can produce.

Taken completely by surprise, it's a wonder Impmon's head didn't hit

the tunnel ceiling. Instead, the purple hued digital demon spins

around to find Calumon's distorted face only a fraction of an inch

from his nose.

Falling back onto his rear in shock, Impmon's 'brow' twitches in

anger.

"Youse . . . youse . . ."

"Do you need some dry underwear?" Terriermon teases.

"That's it!" Impmon roars. "Prepare for youse end! Bada-Boom!"

What follows is clearly the most one-sided digi-battle in recorded

history. Even Calumon... a digimon who couldn't even conceive of

harming a fly let alone going it... throws a few poorly aimed play

punches. None connect, but that doesn't matter. Except for Jeri who

keeps out of the fray, everyone else makes up for the little

digimon's lack of combat prowess a hundred times over.

Still mumbling "Just youse wait until I get my breath back! I'll take

youse all on! One at a time or all at once! I don't care!" the

battered purple troublemaker threatens repeatedly as he's dragged out

of the tunnel by his pointy tail. None of the group is under any

delusion that he'd learn anything from this painful incident and mend

his ways in the future.

At least, as far as evil digimon go, he barely qualifies as a minor

nuisance.

"I'm just glad to be out of there." Jeri announces as she re-arranges

the bandages covering her numerous cuts and bruises. Calumon, tagging

along on her shoulder, is clearly upset by the severity of the

injuries covering most of her spine.

Looking into his troubled eyes, Jeri finds it hard to imagine how this

tiny defenseless cream puff could be the same digimon that'd scared

her out of her wits only a few weeks ago.

"Me, too." Terriermon responds to Jeri's statement.

"Me, three." Lee concurs a second later.

"Us, four." Kazu and Kenta chime in.

"We, five." The dinos add at the end.

Even though full sunrise is several hours old, the sky overhead is not

much brighter than the tunnel behind them. Thick black clouds hid

even a hint of the Sun's location. Still, compared to the

claustrophobic near pitch-black conditions they'd just endured, it

might as well be high noon.

"Must be some really nasty weather coming," Jeri observes pointing a

claw-tipped finger straight up. "Good. People will stay inside. That

means they'll be less of a chance of the others getting spotted."

"Do you think we should've left Impmon in there, Lee?" Calumon asks

off handily.

"We can't do that. The rats might complain."

"Ha Ha! Very funny!" Impmon replies sarcastically as Guilmon lifts him

completely off the ground by his tail.

"Besides, Terriermon adds while laughing. "I'm sure he won't mind

HANGING around with us for a bit longer!"

Proving the non-fictional reality of his existence, Impmon's

instantaneous response is a lung-emptying barrage of foul language no

kiddies' cartoon-show character would ever be permitted to use. Jeri,

her own face growing redder by the second, she barely manages to

cover Calumon's huge ears before he hears more the first few words.

'Mental note to myself,' Jeri muses silently as she waits for Impmon

to run out of steam. "Find a big bar of soap. Clean out that filthy

mouth at the first opportunity. And then.. '

Her plan making is suddenly interrupted when Calumon gives out a loud

fearful whimper. Spinning him around in her hands, she finds his eyes

frozen wide-open in absolute panic and pointing a tiny limb at a

nearby building.

At that very instant it strikes her... it strikes all of them.

Danger. Extreme danger. The 'you're about to die horribly' kind.

On a scale of one to a hundred, Impmon hardly rated more than a zero

point zero zero one on the 'things to avoid' meter. A comical

nuisance who's presence in the past had only served to bring a moment

of levity during many otherwise overwhelming tense situations.

There was nothing funny about the building Calumon, and few humans

walking nearby, were pointing at.

Buttressed on both sides by a pair of even taller towers, the upper

floors of this modern glass and steel structure appear to be glowing

red-hot and only seconds away from a city-destroying cataclysmic

explosion.

Looking practically close enough to touch, a swirling cloud of glowing

red and orange clouds circle just above the roof. Almost continuous

thunder-less lighting strikes jump between the cloud and both towers.

The hypnotizing image is suddenly taken away when Guilmon bumps into

her. Traveling in a straight line with Terriermon, Calumon, and

Impmon following close behind, the trio of digimon are walking

robot-like straight at the building.

"Get back here, Guilmon!" The red-scaled digimon ignores her.

"Terriermon! Calumon! Impmon! Stop!" None gave any sign of having

heard her.

Like iron filings to a magnet, they seem unable to resist the unknown

force attracting them, and only them, towards the building. Jeri can

feel 'something', and, from the look in everyone else's eyes, she

must assume the other partially digivolved children feel it to, but

that's all it was.

A feeling.

A bad feeling.

A growing worse by the second feeling.

Takato can attest to this in spades.

Normally, Guilmon and he are as inseparable as Siamese twins. Not now.

Whatever hold that light-show had on the natural digimon, it was

having an equally strong, but repellant, effect on him. He didn't

need any of his new digital instincts to know that voluntarily

approaching that disaster-in-the-making was, in a word, insane.

Frustrated by his inability to formulate a viable solution to the

current situation, Takato yells another word, "Leemon!"

In much the same way that Jeri had been awaken by Guilmon's

unintentional collision, Takato's shout jars Lee back to the present.

Mumbling an automatic... stop calling me a Mon!... his eyes focus on

the slowly departing digimon. Instantly accessing the gravity of the

situation be shouts even louder.

"Takato grab Guilmon! Jeri grab Calumon and Terriermon! Kenta and

Kazu! Grab Impmon! Now!"

In a blur of superhuman speed and strength, Takato races forward and

lifted Guilmon off the ground. The digimon's clawed feet didn't miss

a beat. The red-scaled digital dino is totally unaware of Takato's

powerful bear hug and his sudden lack of forward progress.

A few seconds later, Calumon, Terriermon, and Impmon are similarly

restrained. They too are likewise oblivious to the presence of their

captors.

"What now, Lee?" Takato growls.

The children are close to panic. As one they turn and gaze down at Lee

hopefully. Lee's response to their voiced and unvoiced requests for

guidance is a rather predictable, "RUN!!"

As if a visual demonstration would be necessary to get his point

across, Lee races away as fast as his diminutive legs and widely

spread ears can carry him. Even burdened by Calumon and Terriermon's

miniscule weight, and a late start, Jeri has no problem leaving him

in her dust. With cat-like ease, she bounds down the same empty

sidewalk that leads straight to Takato's home.

Only Kenta and Kazu remain behind. Even impeding doom can't keep the

pair from finding something to bicker about.

"You take him!" Kenta yells pushing the semi-conscious Impmon into

Kazu sucker-tipped fingers.

"I don't want him! He's icky!" Kazu replies tossing the purple digimon

back into the five large feathers the owl-like Kenta uses in lieu of

fingers.

"Look who's talking. You're so slimy things stick to you!" Kenta

answers angrily.

"I'd rather by sticky than icky! Take care of him yourself, Kenta."

"Whooo...?"

"Very funny. Don't give me that owl stuff. Do what comes naturally.

Think of him as road-kill, birdbrain."

"Him? Yuck! Are you trying to poison me, Kazu?" Kenta replies in an

offended tone.

If any evidence were needed to illustrate the insidious handiwork of

the virus transforming the children into digimon, this example would

take the cake. Not only did Kazu just suggest using a sentient being

as food with a clear conscience; the only objection Kenta could offer

to counter this cold-blooded solution to their problem... and in Kazu

case, cold-blooded was a literal fact... was a personal dislike of

said sentient being's personality.

"What's it gonna be then?" Kazu inquires while pointing a

sucker-tipped eight inch long thumb over his shoulder at the glowing

building. You gonna carry or eat 'em? Or do we wait here until that

thing blasts your feathers off? "

"Carry it is." Kenta squawks back as he grabs Impmon in his talons and

leaps into the air. "But don't think I'm going to forget this,

wall-crawler. If I get a rash on my claws, I'm going to take it out

of your scaly hide!"

Despite their late start, it doesn't take the pair long to catch up to

Lee, and just as rapidly, leave him behind. Lopmons, and Terriermons

for that matter, simply aren't cut out for Track and Field events.

Due to their spherical body design, both are more likely be mistaken

for a ball than as participants in any kind of sport.

Luckily for him, the group's ultimate destination is only a couple

blocks away. Whether it would be far enough away to protect them when

that building blew up, was anyone's guess.

Huffing and puffing hard, Lee runs through the open doors and straight

into an huge set of claws.

"HERE HE IS," a nearly sonic-boom loud reptilian voice announces, "OUR

HERO!!"

Trapped in a cage of ivory-white talons, Lee can do nothing as

blue-scaled jaws filled needle-sharp teeth hurl towards his face and

plants a big wet kiss on his lips.

For the record, it must be noted that reptiles don't have waists or

lips. As such, neither of Takato's dinosaurian parents, nor he

himself, could actually kiss. Their dino equivalent of this

particular human gesture is instead a gentle rubbing of jaws and a

generous exchange of slobber.

The former nearly ends Lee's existence when a grateful, but

over-enthusiastic, tap from Takato's mother's rock-hard jaws comes

close to crushing his head. The latter proves almost as hazardous

when those same jaws open wide and a blanket-size tongue drenches him

in saliva.

Looking more like drowned cat than a digimon, Lee can only smile

weakly as everyone crowds around and cheers his name; a smile that

vanishes an instant later when the cause of their headlong flight

crosses his mind.

"We've got to get out of here! It's going to explode!" he screams.

Lowering Lee to the floor, Takato's mother asks, "What's going to

explode, dear?"

"That building... that building with the two towers!" Lee replies

running out of breath mid-sentence. More than his height had been

reduced by the unknown cause of his digital transformation. He'd hate

to admit it, but his current physical condition was pathetic. A human

five year-old could rip him apart like a cheap plush toy without even

trying.

"Go take a look, Honey." Takato's mother asks her husband.

Takato's father removes his apron and uses it to wipe the flour from

his paws. Completely nude, he stomps across the wooden floor making

the heavy planks tremble with each clawed footfall. Feeling not the

least self-conscious about his unclothed body... few digimon except

for the more human-looking ever bother... he sticks his huge head and

upper torso through the doorway.

"It's as ugly as ever. I still can't figure out why the government had

to build that glass and metal monstrosity in this old neighborhood.

Not that I'd mind, but it doesn't like it's going to blow up anytime

soon."

Avoiding a slowly swinging tail that could break any of them in two,

the children jam themselves between Takato's father's muscular

dinosaur body and the doorframe. None can believe their eyes.

It was gone. All of it. The low-hanging circling clouds. The lightning

flashes. The flickering colored lights bouncing between the two

towers. Gone like someone had turned all of it off with the push of a

button.

Even the sky itself was rapidly clearing up. In a few minutes the

sprawling metropolis of Tokyo would sparkle in the morning sunshine.

At least, as much as it could despite the ever-present haze of

air-pollution covering the city would ever allow.

"You youngsters, " The tall prehistoric reptile declares shaking his

massive skull, "always with the jokes. You had me worried for a

second, funny mon. And to think Takatomon once told us you were the

most serious-minded of his young friends, Leemon."

Knowing he had no way to explain the sudden change in weather, nor the

mysterious light show, Lee wisely decides to change the topic of

conversation, "Where's Takato?"

"Where else?" Takato's father replied pointing a human hand size claw

towards the rear of the bakery, "He gave his mother quite a shock.

His friend looks so much like him you'd think he came from the same

digi-egg. The pair barely stopped to say hello before the stuck their

heads into the display case. Lucky for us a new batch is baking right

now, or the bakery wouldn't have any bread left to sell the lunchtime

crowd."

No exaggeration there. If anything, the former human adult turned

massive blue digital dinosaur could only be accused of being a bit

over-optimistic. At the rate bread rolls were vanishing into Takato

and Guilmon's wide-spread maws, he'd better get back to work soon or

there might not be a crumb left in the store by noon.

Lee suddenly turned and began to walk towards the same open display

case. Wracked by hunger pangs that hadn't existed a heartbeat before,

he can't take his eyes of a large loaf of Italian bread more than

twice his height. It requires all of the human self-control remaining

in his Lopmon body just to whisper, "Would you... would you mind if

I... if I?"

"Feel free, Leemon." Takato's father replied. "It's the least we can

do to repay all of you for bringing our wayward son home safe and

sound. Go on everyone. Eat as much as you."

What happened next can only be described as a feeding frenzy.

Jeri nearly got trampled flat when the more heavily digivolved

children, and their digimon partners, ran forward. Only Impmon showed

a little self-control, or, at least that's what Jeri at first

assumed it was. Unable to compete for anything in an honest manner...

evil never plays fair... the little troublemaker could only satisfy

his hunger by stealing bread from the paws of others smaller or

slower than himself.

It took nearly an hour for calm to return.

Beached like a pod of whales trapped on dry land, the entire group lay

prone on the floor moaning in discomfort. Only Jeri, nibbling calmly

on the sole dinner roll she'd managed to save from wildly snapping

jaws and clutching paws, remained standing. Stuffed to the brim, all

the others had stomachs that appeared but a single bite away from a

rather messy detonation.

Beaming proudly, Takato's parents look down at their child. With

Guilmon resting by his side, Takato rubbed his painfully swollen

belly and grudgingly protested yet another competitive lose. Guilmon

had beaten his best efforts by the sum of three breakfast rolls, two

loaves of sesame seed bread, and a small birthday cake before falling

over.

Lee hadn't been far behind.

Too small to compete in the sheer number of items consumed category,

the human turned digital bunny-dog had chosen size over quantity. In

a move that must've violated several major laws of physics, Lee had

jammed a yard-long roll of French bread into his tiny mouth and begun

to swallow.

Swallow. Not chew.

Inch by inch the yard long column had vanished inexorably into his

over-extended jaws. As Jeri watched in alarm, his spherical body

stretched outwards to match the bread's dimensions. Her disquiet grew

by leaps and bound when Lee's eyes suddenly flew open with a look of

terrified human panic in their digimon depths.

Snapped out of a digital-monster's hunger-induced stupor by an

over-extended sensation of fullness in his gut, Lee found himself

siting on the floor and growing heavier with each strained gulp. Not

that it mattered; this action were no longer his conscious control.

Barely able to breath, he could only watch helplessly as his tiny

Lopmon arms forced yet another segment of bread into his

bursting-at-the-seams body.

The act neared completion just as Jeri stepped forward. Even as her

finger reached down to yank the bread from Lee's mouth, the final few

inches slipped inside and he crashed face-up onto the floor. Looking

like a fur-covered French loaf with a head, he waited for the

incredible pressure in his middle to blow him apart.

That moment never came.

The immutable laws of physics were severely bent again when the bread

distorting his body into a nearly perfect cylinder suddenly vanished,

and Lee, sighing deeply, returned to his normal shape... normal for a

Lopmon that is. Unbelievable as that might be, credulity was equally

strained when he started to crawl on all fours towards another loaf

of bread even larger than the first.

"Don't even think about it!" Jeri announced reaching down and plucking

him off the floor.

"Ah... come on! Just one more!." Lee growled nearly incoherently as he

tried to squirm out of her grip.

"Focus, Lee! Don't lose control!." Jeri yelled back while trying to

find something, anything, sentient in the beady little black digimon

eyeballs looking back at her.

"Jeri?" Lee asked in a confused, but clearly human, tone. "What's

wrong?"

"Ah... it's nothing," she lied. "I thought you were choking. Are you

sure you're okay?"

'Damn! I nearly lost him there. The more like digimon the others

become, the more they act like them. The urge to feed and fight, or

more likely, fight to feed, is getting stronger by the second. How

much longer before they... before I... forget who I was and succumb

to the need to battle? What will I do if I kill and upload one of my

friends? Will I even care?'

Clearly having no memory of what he'd done to himself, Lee replied,

"I'm fine. Just a little hungry. You wouldn't have some bread on

you?"

"Just this," Jeri said while extending her half-eaten bread-roll,

"it's yours if you want it."

"Thanks, Jeri. You're a pal."

'At least he made the effort to chew this time.' Jeri thought as she

gently placed Lee back on the floor and turned to survey the rest of

the group.

"Takato?"

"Yes, Guilmon?"

"My belly hurts." Guilmon whined while rubbing his stomach. His

bloated belly had yet to even begin returning to its normal girth.

"Mine too." Takato's middle matched the other dino's girth inch for

inch. Neither was likely to be walking around soon under his own

power.

"You're a terrible trainer, Takato. A good trainer never lets his

digimon do stuff like this."

"I know. Why don't you talk to Jeri about that? Maybe she'll agree to

be your trainer too."

"Share a trainer? Thank you, Takato!"

"I'm still gonna be her number-one digimon. Got it?"

"Okay. I'll be number... number...number. What comes after number one,

Takato?"

"Two."

"You're smart. Where did you learn stuff like that?"

"In school, I guess."

"I went to school too, Takato."

"You did? In the Digital World?"

"No. Right here in the Real World. Don't you remember? You left me all

alone inside of a cardboard box. I got lonely and followed you to

school. I learned lots of things that day."

"Like what, Guilmon?"

"Well... your school principal doesn't like play, and he screams like

a female Homo when frightened.

"Is that it?"

"No, Takato. I also learned how stingy the school cooks are when it

comes to preparing food. I ate everything they'd made to feed the

Homo children for lunch. It was good, but not nearly enough. I was

still hungry."

"You... you... you liked that stuff?" Takato asked incredulously.

Something about Guilmon's claim to having consumed, and enjoyed, the

food they served in his school's cafeteria had struck a cord buried

deep in his pre-transformation memories. Memories of watery gravy and

burnt brownies rushed to the surface of his mind.

His human mind.

"Where you going?" Guilmon asked when Takato rose to all fours and

began to slowly crawl towards the staircase leading to the second

floor.

"I don't feel well. I'm going upstairs to my room. You coming?"

With their bellies nearly scrapping the floorboards, the reptilian duo

laboriously clawed their way up the narrow stairs. Upon arrival,

Guilmon immediately dropped to the floor and curled up nose to

tail-tip. The short climb had done wonders for reducing the pressure

in his middle. A little nap now would be just what the digi-doctor

ordered.

Takato, on the other hand, was having problems. Or, to be exact, a

single problem: he couldn't find a single comfortable position on a

bed mat he'd slept upon almost his entire life.

No matter how hard he tried, his heavy tail kept getting in the way.

He practically chased it in circles while Guilmon looked on

curiously. Finally, in desperation, he dropped to all fours and

slowly lowered himself belly-down on the mat. Stretched out like a

lizard on a warm rock, he sighed deeply and tried to fathom the cause

of his problem.

' What's wrong? This my room. This my bed roll. Why am I so

uncomfortable?' Takato, the human teenager turned adolescent digital

dinosaur, thought as his eyes scanned for anything that might be

causing his discomfort.

Nothing. Everything was in its right place. Drawings he'd made when he

should've been doing homework still covered his desk by the window.

His backpack and a pile of dirty school clothes were still in the

corner where he'd tossed them a couple days ago.

'Dirty school clothes?' Takato thought growing even more upset. 'The

books I understand. Digimon must go to school and study hard if they

want to survive their first serious battle. But why would I bring all

that smelly hoomon rags...?'

Mid thought, Takato jumped up and raced to the closet. Nearly tearing

the flimsy door off it's hinges, he swung it open to find it crammed

full of shirts, pants, and shoes no digital animal could, or would,

want to wear. Hoomon clothing. Clothing his mother had bought for...

him.

Reaching down, Takato snagged the lasses of a well-worn sneaker with a

claw tip and lifted it to his nose. He needed little of his highly

developed predator sense of smell to know it'd been worn only three

or four days before, and to recognize the wearer's scent.

His scent.

'How could that be?' Takato though as he looked down and flexed his

massively clawed feet. 'It must be one of Impmon's jokes. I couldn't

fit a single toe into this thing. Yet...'

Once more Takato appraised the closet's contents. Everything looked

so strangely familiar somehow. No surprise really. His mother might

be a fantastic baker and shrewd business woman, but she had little

imagination when it came to boys clothing. Takato could still

remember how once he'd change his outfit every day for a week and

everyone said he still looked exactly the same.

"No use wasting money on stuff you're going to out-grow soon anyway."

His mother had commented. Although, looking over his shoulder at the

large scale-clad appendage attached to his rear, Takato thought in

reply to that old memory, 'Did you have tails in mind when you said

that, Mom?'

Akin to the preverbal last straw that broke the proverbial camel's

back, Takato's human memories... long smothered under an impenetrable

blanket of digimon programming... flooded to the surface as the full

implication of this last sentence struck home. How long they would

float there was unknowable, but, for now, the Takato of old was back.

A human mind that suddenly awoke to find itself inside a

muscle-bound, red-scaled, tail-waging, claw and talon armed,

fire-breathing, prehistoric dinosaur body that looked like it'd

stepped out of a Saturday morning television show.

After a second of calm contemplation, Takato took the only sane option

left to any rational child finding his, or herself, in a bizarre

situation such as this.

"MOM! POP! ANYBODY! HELP!"

The winter wether was beginning to show. Storm clouds meticulously form

overhead. Weather the wether was snow or rain was anyone's guess though

wether men (or whatever gender they happen to be) would protest this fact.

Entranced by two giant sized lizards baking bread and preparing food stuffs

with the accuracy and preciseness of a human being, Jeri didn't notice her

partner digimon leaving at first. He had seen this done a million time after

all.

Normally Takatomon would go where any pre-teen mon would go, but since his

parents didn't like him playing video games when he had friends over he

settled for his natural environment, his bed room. Climbing the stairs in a

flash Takato's claws fumbled but ultimately turned the knob, not once

thinking about how he never had trouble like that with his door before.

He hadn't been to his room in days, it was exactly how he left it. Total

chaos to anyone else, to Takatomon it was the pinnacle of order. He saw the

Agumon pajamas to his previous evolution still on the floor next to his bed.

Takatomon's room was a shrine to everything digimon. The V-Tamer comic book.

The cartoon show, though he didn't have the cash to buy the series on

video. -He had spent it on cards for the game. - Instead, he had done what

every kid had done since the invention of the 'Record' button on VCRs. He

even had the Agumon/Wargreymon transforming action figure. But if one was to

truly appreciate Takato's fanatic interest in the franchise however, one had

to look no further than his underwear drawer: where one would see prints of

digimon staring back at you.

The mall was filled as usual, it was noisy was usual, and also as usual

there was always kids at the toy store demanding their parents buy them the

latest play thing that would be outdated by month's end.

And a younger Takato was easily one of them and proud of it.

It was a smaller version of the humon Takatomon had been in his dream. But

these didn't seem like dreams.

The boy walked in stride with his mother, as if the other kids could see

through his shorts to behold the latest prize his persistence and constant

attacks upon the sanity of whom he considered the greatest woman alive. It

easier to do with dad, but knowing this, his mother had taken him instead so

he didn't wipe out their credit cards on stuffed digimon.

After a fierce battle Takato emerged victorious with a second prize, a

transforming Agumon, which he would forget about and demand a transforming

Veemon when Digimon 02 came out. Not that it actually mattered in any shape

or form at the time, for Takato was as happy as a kid with a new toy could

be: a happiness which has yet to be surpassed even with Prozac.

The medically diagnosed paranoid PTA would conclude what Takato said next as

a road to ruin. In reality it was a chain of events that would lead to the

birth of Guildmon a couple years later.

The human child said cheerfully with the same pure and innocent heart as

those who played Pokemon and Monster Rancher. "I wish digimon were real."

Time froze.

Takatomon's reprogrammed memories had left in one tiny insignificant

mistake, and it was now driving Takatomon insane.

Takatomon's head was reeling. Wish digimon were real? But digimon were real.

He was real. His friends were real. Why would he dream something like that?

These were waking dreams weren't they? Takatomon felt the urge to bash his

head through the walls of his room to try and silence the memories that were

challenging everything he knew about himself. Queue the interruption.

"Takato. Your mom wanted me to tell you she's finished making . . Takato?"

Jeri just stared at Takatomon as he listlessly looked at his reflection in

his bedroom window his tail looking like dead weight on the floor.

The night before, Lee had explained how he had thought that somehow contact

with Takato's drawing would cause a transformation back into a human being

for the red dino before Jeri had even been infected.

Lee looking back on it, admitted that it was perhaps the least thought out

action he had ever taken. Takato managed to steal his drawings from his own

room. But had gotten an emotional kick in the stomach when his father hadn't

recognized him and driven him out of the house.

Jeri thought back to when she had seen Takato's mother while she was still

partly human, talking about how she was sorry for not recognizing her son

after he digivoled.

The group was really going to have to get together and write all this down

some time, Jeri was beginning to realize just how small her perspective was.

Jeri actually managed a slight smile at the picture of Kenta and Kazu over

dramatizing their part in things. Not that it ever get past editing of

course.

"And so the great Kazu and Kenta destroyed the evil alien menace and found

the cure to the strange mutant virus and-"

"Guys I don't think you should play Takato's Dreamcast without permission."

Lee injected into the pair's play by play.

The red digimon looked at his Tamer with fearful maroon eyes. The 'bat wing'

ears on his head flat against his skull."Je-ri-mon. Takato-mon . . .

confused." Jeri gently pushed his great head down till it was lower than

her's and calmly embraced him, putting her hands on the back of his head and

jaw.

"It's alright Takato." She soothed. "It's all right. I promise we will get

through this, together." Jeri didn't want to be here. She wanted to be

inside her own head, where everything was nice and pretty, where mistakes

didn't happen. But here she was in the real world, a place she secretly

detested ever since it had taken away her loving mother.

But feeling the same sense of responsibility that Takato and Henry did

towards their digimon, Jeri too now felt the undescribable _need _not

to abandon her best friend. Jeri knew better than anyone how to pull back,

to pretend everything was perfect, to act like it was all a game.

Oh, she wanted to. But looking into her partner's eyes made her more trapped

than if he was bear hugging her. Uncertainty about the future, doubt about

your own choices, it was like looking into a mirror. Jeri had no idea how

normal she was.

All the same, those eyes held her, begging her not to go away, and Jeri

surprised herself by not being able to turn them down. In the back of her

mind, before this had all started, Jeri had hoped that Takato and his

digimon could be her new sanctuary from real life. Now, she was Takatomon's

sanctuary, from what he had been, and what he had become.

The clouds outside finally broke, but if it was blizzard or down pour, Jeri

and Takato-mon didn't notice.

Flames, comments, suggestions, constructive criticism all welcome.


	17. Some OldSome New read down for newest

The revamp of the last chapter was by Charles M. a brilliant editor and writer.

Okay, as of right now I'm admitting that I was totally lax on grammar and spelling in the beginning chapters of this story. But you CAN see that with our new pre-reader and some actually effort on my part we've come past that.

And looking back at the VERY beginning of the story Takato came up with the name Growlmon back in chapter one! And I got the Tamer numbers wrong.

I barrowed a bit between Renamon and Rika in part one from someone else' story but I can't remember the title or the author.

We also made the mistake of the time scale of Rika getting a Hyper wings cards for Renamon.

And in series we saw Shabomi open up and jack-in a D-Arc to his computer.

BTW: I found some notes left over from old thread on what I originally had planned for when Jeri got home.

"After Jeri finds Rikamon coldly ranting on how everyone leaves her in the end and goes to her home to find her human family. (BTW: she takes her laundry from the last few days and has Takato burn it, just to be safe)

Her father freaks, and so does her stepmother, her little brother thinks it's cool. Let's just say it doesn't turn out well for Jeri's home life.

(Note, Jeri's family wasn't infected due to the non contact Jeri had with them, and they do the laundry on Fridays)"

I need to stop using 'most confusing thing yet' over and over.

Can we please find a spot to skip time soon? Like three weeks? I just want something ready in case we hit a rut.

"End of Page One of . . . we aren't finished yet by a long shot."

Dang was I right for a change.

"What goes up must come down but my feet don't touch the ground." -Sonic Heroes.

Parts of this were written by **Fionn the Otaku and Aaron Max and Waynemon. **

Jeri didn't let go of Takato that night, ever; she actually fell asleep still holding his neck long after her tears had tried whispering to Takato that it was all right.

Kenta and Kazu spent the evening with several rounds of Digimon. How the boys were even able to look at their cards was beyond Lee. The Chinese/Japanese lad was able to see that several of the cards they were using were the ones Takato had given them two days before (as so the K-boys defended when Lee recognized the art boy's deck style but Takato backed up their story.).

"Did you REALLY have to give your entire card collection to the twits." Terriermon had asked.

"Well." Said Takatomon. "I didn't think I'd be using them anymore."

Calumon bounced around until he ran out of energy, which happened a lot sooner than Lee thought should have been possible. Calumon was perpetual motion machine, and yet the little thing was out like a light before midnight, as Lee figured at least, their D-Ark's didn't have built in clocks, well, Lee didn't think they did.

Terriermon spent the night with himself when Lee stopped responding to his brilliant (ly dumb) jokes. Lee himself spent the night barely getting any sleep, his mind racing, trying to come up with a solution. With normal child idolism Lee was certain as a computer expert, his dad would be able to help them somehow. Getting there was another matter. No way that weird group of guys in black was going to be able to cover up everything now, but that only meant Lee had to worry about the police and who knew what else. Assuming of course nuclear death didn't rain down from the sky for a second time to atomize them all and this 'infection. ' (Was it any wonder 'nuclear family' a term not used often in Japan for obvious reasons.)

But since there was zilch to be done about that Lee decided to Momentai on that subject and move on how to move without being made to bunk it with lab rats halfway home. But as sleep crept on his mind did wander. For instance:

Guilmon said Takato's scent changed when he transformed. Yet Takato was able to tell all of our scents apart after we changed.

But in all likelihood it all has to do with context. Takato never used his nose to tell people apart when he was human, so when he was changing he must have picked up on the scent of the parts of Kazu and Kenta that had changed subconsciously.

The air of the first night of December was not particularly forgiving that night but Calumon didn't seem to mind and Lee and Terriermon were able to use their ears for insulation. Being a fire breather clearly had an advantage as Guilmon curled up without a word of complaint about the cold. Takatomon was worried about 'Jerimon' catching a cold and wrapped himself around her, protecting her from the cold with his own body heat. Kenta and Kazu decided to follow Jeri and Takatomon's lead. Lee promised to tear off Terrerimon's ears and beat him to death with them if the beige bunny/dog made any 'suggestions'. Even inside his self made cocoon Lee racked his brain for ideas on how to travel incognito. He was getting just desperate enough to go with the trench coat and hat cliché when he finally fell asleep.

Lee's sleep was quite unpleasant as he dreamed first of a Lopmon trying to strangle his human self with her ears followed by Suzie playing Princess Pretty Pants with him. Which nightmare he preferred should be painfully obvious.

Terriermon, his sleeping mind refusing to be dragged down by anything dreamed his normal dreams of Hetai between various anime characters.

Kenta dreamed his human self was naked in a classroom full of fully clothed digimon and Usagimon of course making him wish she'd just delete him already.

Kazu dreamed his digimon self in his normal outfit in a classroom full of . . . well . . . guess.

Both –of course- were taking finals that they hadn't studied for. But given the raw material their sub-consciousness' had to work with, it shouldn't have been that great a shock.

The other mutants suffered dreams to write about but only for the strong of heart to read about.

Calumon dreamed himself in a black void, his data bits drifting away one by one. His cries for help were deafened when his mouth vaporized, as the only thing left of him was his forehead symbol he was surrounded by four really big digimon.

Guilmon was at his first birthday party, surrounded by his digimon and human friends alike. But as soon as he blew out the candles everyone turned into him! Right down his voice and eyes. Which was Takato? The red dragon cried out for his Tamer, but all the Guilmon did the same each one saying it was the true Guilmon.

Jeri was standing in the middle of the school gym in her PE uniform her tail out behind her. The inside dodge ball court was empty. In the blink of an eye it was filled with human being, Takato, Lee, her family. All of them pointed at her screaming 'freak' in a chant Jeri tried to say she was still the same person but it was drowned out by the horrible unified voice. The gym emptied in the same manner but not for long as the occupants were all replaced by complete digimon, all of which Jeri recognized from school, including the other infected. They started just where they left off. Once again calling the hybrid before them freak now followed by several slurs about a lion humping a monkey. Jeri began to cry.

The gym was empty for a third time. Once again Jeri wasn't alone for more than a few seconds as someone else appeared. A Guilmon with deep brownish eyes that looked blood colored when the light hit them just right and thus, the red being special, was what was remembered. Except for those who didn't care about such things.

"Takato?" The girl whispered looking at him desperation.

"Jeri?" The digimon said tears welling up in his eyes. "Takatomo- . . . I'm sorry."

Takatomon was in a large crowd of humons in a room that his brain clicked in as being 'gym'. He also saw he was humon. But strangely it felt right. He saw his Tamer standing the middle of everyone. He heard a voice calling her 'freak' and was shocked to find it was coming out of his mouth. He wanted to stop but he had no control over the alien body as everyone else called the ugly word at the same time. Jerimon was clearly trying to say something but he couldn't hear her over everyone else. Then with no in between he was himself but started again saying horrible things at the person his most basic instincts told him he should protect.

With the same no in between he was alone with her. She noticed him and she spoke in a voice clearly afraid he was going to continue to mock her. "Takato?"

"Jeri?" He said strangely skipping the 'mon' on her name like she had. "Takatomo- . . . I'm sorry."

The dinosaur breathed. "I didn't mean those bad things. You not freak. You. You."

Jeri felt herself smile. "Oh Takato." Tear of joy churned up in her eyes. "Thank you."

Jeri's body relaxed in her slumber.

The Thursday morning couldn't come soon enough for Lee, but his mentally exhausted body wouldn't let him wake for quite some time. By the time he finally did come around he didn't think he'd ever get the imaginary taste of bad tea out of his mouth. But what he saw was enough to make him forget about that entirely.

Lee opened his eyes and was greeted by the midmorning light along with something that almost gave him a stroke.

Lee had thought meeting a real Terriermon was as weird as things were going to get in his life. Then he thought meeting other kids and THEIR digimon was as weird as his life going to get. After that there was actually getting turned INTO a digimon and that was as weird as things were going to get. Next came Calumon actually looking scared when he asked Lee never to eat him. And JUST when Lee had thought he had reached the end of the weird meter . . . the needle broke.

There was Jeri. In HIS cloths!

Lee sputtered like a motorboat. "J-Jeri . . . w-what are you wearing?!"

"Your stuff." Said Jeri as if it wasn't a big deal. Which to her, it wasn't.

To Lee it was. "But-but what about your dress?"

Jeri said what to her was just common sense. "It was falling apart at the seams, I didn't want to join you boys in the nude and since yours doesn't fit you anymore I thought maybe I could barrow it for a while."

Lee saw the logic in Jeri's statement though deep down he was still hoping for a cure in the very imitate future and didn't want to be caught showing something he shouldn't be. Speaking of things that shouldn't be showing, Lee saw Jeri had done some creative work on the back of his pants allow her tail to go through. Jeri was lucky she was at that age where boys and girls could still exchange clothing without worrying about certain differences in proportions and while taller than the human Takato even before this new brand of craziness had taken center stage, Lee's cloths fit her well enough.

"Still." Lee said. "I wish you had asked me. Can't you just wear your dress until you found something else?"

"Sorry I can't. I had Takato burn them this morning."

"What?!"

"They were totaled and smelled worse than I looked. You'd need the bleach that eats through your hand to get the stink out and by that time I think it would have dissolved what was left of the skirt."

"True. But still seems a waste."

"Why . . . don't tell me YOU wanted to wear it."

"Of course not!"

"Uh, Lee. I was wondering something. Someone told me that Lopmon was a girl digimon so I was wondering if maybe you had had any changes, you know . . ." Jeri let her question sink in.

"Jeri." Lee said calmly. "Whoever told you that was off their rocker! I hate to resort to fiction material but didn't you see the movie!? The Lopmon in that film was a BOY. Besides. Lopmon always struck me being able to be any gender. It would be too weird if all Lopmon were girls."

"So . . . if you digivolved you'd turned into that big ugly thing that chased Willis around?"

Lee thought for a second but shook his head. "I seriously doubt it. That was a corrupt digivolution like Skullgreymon from the first season."

"So. You have no idea what you'd become if you . . . changed?"

"Afraid not. I never had Lopmon in my deck. But everything aside, I'd rather not find out! Takato's humanity took a nosedive after he evolved for the first time."

"Yes." Jeri said looking at her claws wonder what she would become when she fully changed and if she reached 'the next level.'

Lee eyed her even more carefully. Eyes the same. Nose still human. Ear not pointed.

"Jeri I've noticed something strange."

"That's not hard."

"No, I mean . . . you haven't grown an inch more fur since your initial change, and you've had trouble maintaining your human ego."

"My ego I think got larger when I was starting to act like Rika."

"Not that ego! I meant how you perceive yourself. The mental image of Jeri Kato in your mind's eye. It's still a human being. I've been having my digimon persona trying to get into the driver seat ever since I fully changed. But you've had no trouble remembering you're a human being."

Jeri had to admit, she hadn't thought about it, then again she had a lot to think about, including Takato, this infection, and weather she was ever going to be fully human again. "I thought it was, well, just because."

"There ARE no 'just because's in the world Jeri. Trust me on this one."

Jeri was eerily silent for a few moments before saying. "Yes. I know." She said the next word as if it was her own personal gelatin. "Destiny."

Lee wasn't sure how to respond to that. "Uh. I just mean we shouldn't take everything at face value that's all."

"Whatever." Jeri whispered. Had it been her desire for things to be this way, had it been her design to have the universe be the way it was? When had she even said?

_"Takato I've been thinking . . . I want to be a Tamer." _

The flash back at school Monday morning hit her in the gut like a freight train. She had asked Takato for this. He had told her it wasn't just a club you joined. That he didn't have any idea how he became a Tamer.

She had asked for it, and she had gotten it, she wondered if a Djinn had been listening and was soon going to demand her soul for services rendered. Had it really been so few days since everything changed so fast? Was this really still the week where on Friday the class was taking a fieldtrip to the country and Jeri had arranged for someone else to do the family laundry this Friday?

"What's with you?" Said a famous smart voice. "Someone steal your ball of yarn?"

"You know Terriermon." Said Lee matter of fact to hide his distaste. "It's like your sense of humor is getting worse every day. I wonder if you spent too much time around Impmon yesterday and caught something."

"Come on!" Defended Terriermon either having already seen or not caring about Jeri's attire. "I'm suffering too! I'm expected to be on edge." " If you can call it that. Lee thought. "There was this great Yomato and Taichi love story I was in the middle of reading on-line when you decided to . . . um . .. follow Takato. I haven't had access to a web terminal in almost three days! I'm suffering from withdraw here!"

Lee couldn't believe this. "Agh! That's exactly why I need to clear out the history file every time you're on my computer Terriermon! My dad would kill me if he thought I was going to those kinds of web sites! What kind of people kind of people host that cookie cutter yaoi?!"

"The same kind that hosted this BEAUTIFULLY drawn Taichi + Hikari magna. Hikari's blushing was to die for! I didn't think you could pull incest, adultery, between pre-teens at once and get it right but this guy did, I think his web site was-"(A/N Yes this wonderfully evil piece of art work does exist.)

"I don't want to know!" Lee yelled in desperation. "Or my curiosity might get the better of me and I might actually take a look! I stumbled on one of those sites by accident once, spent weeks trying to flush it out of my head, and my hand STILL shakes when I visit a new digimon fan art site! And for your information, it CAN'T be done right!"

"Well." Terriermon said feeling insulted. "No accounting for taste."

"Or LACK OFF!" Lee shot back. "At least I know where all those warped ideas crawl into your head are from. I'd push a bar of soap through those giant ears of yours but I think I'd need some industrial strength cleanser to clear out al the grime in that skull of yours but I don't trust the child proof caps to keep Takato and Guilmon out!"

"Nice to see you care."

"I least I DO care." Lee wondered if his on-line buddies cared, Lee hadn't had a chance to update his message board threads in two or three days. They were probably all off the board by now. Lee also worried about Takato. Every time Takato has been in a battle so far he fainted after each fight concluded. They couldn't keep dragging him away, digimon where hard enough to move when they were mobile.

Speaking of mobile, he noticed that their only company was Kazu and Kenta who had begun a snoring contest. He wondered if they were off finding breakfast. Then again, the LAST thing Lee wanted to go was go through a repeat of the fast food mess that had landed Takato and Guilmon in jail. He had a strong mind to starve to death first. How did Impmon feed himself without getting caught?

The big man finished putting the fire out on his 'storefront' potted plant by smothering it with his apron. How the heck had that happened? -No way it simultaneously combusted in this cold weather.- He looked at his racks for any damage to notice several apples and oranges missing.

The fruit stand owner made several curses not knowing many them didn't apply to his thief.

Lee shook his head. As if the little devil would tell them anything without mixing in a few dozen insults.

"Where's Takato?" Jeri asked since Terriermon had been with them last time she checked this morning.

"Well." Said the vaccine type. "Calumon talking to Guilmon about still wanting to play a soccer game with him."

"Soccer?" Jeri blinked.

"Remember those weird chalk patterns someone drew on the school soccer field a week or two back?" Lee said.

Jeri put the piece together in her head. "Oh."

Terriermon continued with the most overused start over phrase ever. "Anyway. The thing they couldn't find a soccer ball and they couldn't find anyone to barrow a ball from in the park and they started to look at me kinda of funny."

_Would serve you right. _"I'm sure they weren't going to." Lee lied. "Maybe you should go back and get them."

"There you are!" Said Calumon riding on top of Guilmon's head Takatomon following. "Why'd you run away like that? Takato promised it wasn't going to hurt."

Lee smiled at Takatomon's smirk.

Lee saw Calumon's forehead symbol was brighter than it had been yesterday. He wondered what had happened to liven it up again.

"Come on." Said Terriermon thinking of the best place to hide. "Aren't you guys hungry?" Looking back on it. Terriermon had to admit that was perhaps the most stupid thing he had ever said.

Guilmon blinked at the words referring to his belly. "I am a hungry."

Lee was split between grinning at Terriermon's mouth finally giving him some, and wanting to kick him for bringing up the subject of food! But before any data could be spilled, Jeri opened her mouth.

"Don't worry. I'll get us something." Said Jeri all of sudden.

"Uh Jeri are you sure that's smart? I mean, remember what happened with Takato and Guilmon day before last?" Said injected.

"I'm not going to steal it!" Jeri said appalled that Lee would think such a thing. He had committed her bad deed this year. "I said I was going to get it."

"From where?" Lee said clueless.

Jeri swallowed. This wasn't easy to do or say. An she knew from yesterday Takato was determined to stick to her like glue. "My family's restaurant."

"Uh Jeri are you sure that's a good idea?" Lee asked "After all you did say that your family wasn't infected."

Jeri looked at her right hand, her claws seethed at the moment, remembering what her new nails had racked through last evening. What if she had infected them in that moment? What about her half brother, Masahiko's note about his friend's sister and her new found tail? What if Max had been infected and passed it along to them? Still, her parents recognized her lion's tail as nothing natural, so they couldn't have been infected last night. And it was doubtful Max had spent any time with his friend since then.

Maybe she had a duty to warn them?

"Your family runs a restaurant?" Said Terriermon. "I thought that was Takato's family, who ran a bakery."

Jeri pinched her nose. "Yes to both. It's funny: I actually met Takato when my dad bought some supplies there when our wholesale dealer had a delivery problem."

Takatomon nodded, he remembered meting his Tamer on that day too, before she was his Tamer.

"Still." Injected Lee. "You're a carrier. I meant to tell you to minimize contact yesterday but it slipped my mind. I'm not sure if we want to gamble that again."

Takatomon looked Jeri in the eyes. "You can go to my place Jerimon. We can get bread there and my parents are already digimon so this 'infection' shouldn't matter."

Bizarrely Guilmon didn't break into a song and dance about yummy bread.

Terriermon's ear tapped Lee on the shoulder, having position his Tamer between the other digimon and himself. "I just realized something Lee. Wouldn't two dragon Digimon running a bakery in the middle of Japan attract just a LOT of attention?"

"With all the chaos at the school, I think the media and the police have their hands full. People visiting the bakery might A), think it's a gimmick, or B) be too scared to do anything but what they would normally do and race out the door after making their purchase."

Of course, Jeri could still pass as a human unlike the rest of them. Takato and Guilmon had pulled off the 'costume' trick early their week, -and got busted and taking food for the burger shop without paying-. Would the police now be on the look out for the two escapees? Ugh. At least Lee could say he lived in interesting times. Of course, the last person his Chinese mother had said 'May you live in interesting times,' to had not been someone she was fond of.

Okay. Best go through it rationally and logically. Question. Could they get Takato to stay behind while Jeri went off again like they did yesterday or would the lizard boy even stand for it this time? It was logical for Jeri to go somewhere already infected. And Takato might be safer with his parents. And Lee REALLY wished someone would wake up the snore machines Hirokazu Shiota and Kenta Kitagawa already!!!

"Yo Guilmon. No dancing at the implication of bread? You feeling alright?" Terriermon blinked feeling a little bit more confident.

"Just remembering how Takato always brought me bread, but that Takato doesn't seem to be here anymore."

"What do you mean Guilmon? I'm right here." Takatomon protested.

"No," Guilmon thoughtfully replied, "The Takato who brought me bread was a Humon. I didn't know Humons can mimic other Digimon."

"For the last time, I've always been like this!" Takatomon stomped the ground. Terriermon fled in fear of the small earthquake Takatomon created. "I've never been a Humon..."

"Yes you have, Takato!" Jeri ran to him and threw her arms around the red dragon's neck. Not knowing what else to do, he patted her back reassuringly. "Takato, please try to remember. Try to remember school, and homework, and what things used to be like!" Jeri could feel tears welling up in her eyes. Unbeknownst to her, the Digivice in her new attire began to emit a dull glow.

"Yeah. You are Takato Matsuda, Digimon Tamer. Just repeat that over and over until..." Suddenly, Lee's tiny Lopmon face lit up. He had once read a series of stories on the internet called the Silver Dawn Saga. People who had been transformed usually came back to their senses if someone could create a paradox proving they were once humon... er, human. "Think! Think, Lee, think!"

Hm. In the story a victim remembered they were a supposed to be a human being by looking a photo of their old self. But, dang it! It wasn't like pre-teen kids had photo ID! Maybe he could do it verbally.

"Takato."

"Takatomon."

"Takato." Lee repeated. "You remember wearing goggles, shorts, and your blue hood shirt right?"

"Sure." Takatomon nodded." That was before I digivolved."

Lee wanted to bang his head again a tree. This 'infection' was just plain thorough. He wondered if seeing his old self would just make Takato see that as his in-training form!

There had to be SOMETHING that it had overlooked! Rika had come back to herself. What had triggered it?! If only she was around to ask! Grr. And right afterwards he'd get back those cards she stole from him! Then he'd have Terriermon digivolve and go postal on her for giving him such a headache! But if Rika truly was a Renamon now then she would be impossible to find until she wanted to be found, and Rika had to be the least sociable person on the planet! Still! Rika proved it was possible!

Jeri's Digivice meanwhile waited for that 'little paradox' as Lee had so properly put it to initiate the program that had (more or less) restored Rika's human ego. But until Takato took that first step and found that one detail that was dead wrong in his memories there was nothing to be done, and to add to the problem was that Takato was registered as Jeri's digimon. So the stupid machine was left with a slight conflict of programming. Jeri's data of course was file locked and couldn't be altered. While at the same time the D-Ark's programming instructed it to promote the bound between the 'two of a kind' it was set for. Then came into play the factor of human emotion and desire that acted as the device's power source mixing with Yamaki's malfunctioning virus program. The D-Power fell back on it's emergency fail safe, not to activate unless it's motivator (ie the Tamer the digivice was set-for) was at an absolute. A want, no, a need so complete it dominated the user's very self. An absolute, unconditional hatred for someone, a flawless, untainted passion for something.

But with Jeri's internal wounds that she never showed anyone, her heart and mind remained divided. It was up to Takato to take off the digimon colored glasses he was seeing his memories through. The D-Power waited on stand-by for it's next instructions.

"Yo dudes what's for breakfast?" Kazu.

"Why don't you pipe down and just find some bugs lizard boy." Kenta. "This 'naked bird' needs his sleep."

They WOULD wake up now Lee thought. At least one good thing had come of his virus. Kenta was no longer following Kazu action for action, thought for thought, trying to be his friend's clone. He just hoped Kazu could adjust to Kenta no longer just going along with the flow.

"Come off it Kentamon." Said the reptile.

_Oh no. _Was Lee's single thought.

"Yea yea." Replied the bird type digimon.

_Big oh no. _Was Lee's thought after that.

Then, there were two.

Jeri was started out of her moment with Takato and looked Lee in the eye. The expression of doom and fear clear on her face.

Terriermon just breathed out. "If you ask me any rewiring on their brains could only be an improvement."

It was too early for Lee to start a second rant with Terriermon.

So he sealed the discussion quickly. "Be quite Terriermon . . . And see if you can get the Kenta and Kazu to remember."

Terriermon scratched the back of his over-sized head. "Well. It didn't work on Takato but it might work them."

Lee breathed out. "Whatever it is try it. We have enough trouble with Takato not remembering." Why did he suddenly have the mental image of Terriermon hitting the K-boys over the head with a very large rock?

"HEY KENTA! HEY KAZU!"

Both digimon jumped up and bumped into each other's heads. However it was clear that it was not the blow that had knocked them back to their senses.

Shaking his head, Kazu had to put effort into removing his fingers when he put his face in his hands. "We did it again didn't we?" Kazu asked.

Lee's big ears caught their words and managed to glide over without hitting any low tree branches getting the rest of the group's attention.

"What do you mean again?"

"Yesterday Kenta in the morning thought he had always been a digimon."

Kenta's feathers were ruffled by that one. "Hey! You did too!"

"Well I came out of it first!"

Lee mentally noted. _All those psychologists are right. Similes do repeal. _Lee was also being reminded of an old foreign film called 'Invasion of the Body Snatchers' that he had read during his endless net hours. In the movie, people's minds were replaced with those of evil alien clones when they fell asleep. He was beginning to see a strong and likewise pattern here. The mind often reset itself when sleeping and dumped information not considered worthless in long term memory. And the way their bodies were right now, being human was no longer a important piece of knowledge.

Kenta inquired. "So where's breakfast?"

Terriermon jumped in. "We were actually discussing that just before you guys came to."

"Just a minute people." Kazu reached down pulled his shoes and socks off to reveal two very non-human feet looking more like green spiders with suction cups at their ends. "That feels so much better. Those things were killing me."

Kenta took this opportunity to try and make his point. "I told you it would be more relaxing. Now take the rest off."

The lizard snapped at his best friend. "Drop dead Kenta!"

Jeri couldn't have cared less about Kenta and Kazu at the moment. She just kept looking into Takatomon's eyes as he looked at his two friends. There had to be some way she could help him. Maybe she could get some idea on how to help him at his family's home. Yes. That was their best bet.

_______________________________________

Usagimon knew any minute now she was going to wake up and this horrible nightmare would be over! She would get up. Get her notes. Go to work. And do her best not to join the rookies in daydreaming about Friday's field trip though she would spent half of it making sure her class didn't touch something they shouldn't and spend the other half worrying about a student who would be a minute late because they had stopped to look at a 'cool looking' mold on a tree trunk. And her explaining as best she could that they could take 'fungus among us.' And STILL enjoy every minute of it for being able to be in the sun light on a school day.

She and the rest of the student body would not be held hostage by a bunch of insane government workers who thought there was something seriously wrong with the way she looked. No one had been allowed to go home. It was crazy! She had not even been allowed a phone call. And they kept asking her the most bizarre questions. Of course, that was after she had gone through the most brutal medical examination in her memory after being stripped and attached to a number of vital readers. And she was sure they had screwed with her dress somehow but it was a clearly a size larger than she remembered. These people didn't know the first thing about digimon biology that was for sure. She almost felt she had been rapped. She could only imagine what scars this was going to leave on the kids.

She had hoped maybe with that reporter and her half Gururumon cameraman that these psychos in hazard suits would be more discrete. However this morning a new batch of vans had arrived, all of them black, complete with men and women who killed like they belonged to the Matrix and with just as much resentment to the truth. Her Gatomon hearing picked up some of what was said between them and the biohazard crew. Most of it made no sense to her. But she did pick up one word over and over. 'Hypnos.'

And, from what they did next to the new van, made it clear to Usagimon that she had better start praying that she just made it out of this mad house alive. She was actually now starting to feel happy that Kazumon, Kentamon, Jerimon, Takatomon, and she also heard a Lopmon named Leemon HAD ditched school yesterday, at least they were with their families. Forget permanent record, only a fool would think it was worthwhile to get put in a plastic tent and treated like, like, well, she didn't know WHAT.

She didn't know that half her captors agreed with the part about not knowing what. And if she did know, she would wish the other half was ignorant of what she was. But she would also thank whatever force ruled the universe that she had been treated as 'humanly' as she and her changes had and that she was going to see the next sunrise.

Impmon bound from tree branch to tree branch, head still ringing. "Dose guys gimmie no respect! Yeah… just wait until I digivolve! I'll be so strong, I'll… do somethin' really bad to 'em!" Finally, the ringing calmed to a dull pulse and Impmon plopped down on the tree. "Ah, who am I kiddin'? I can't Digivolve 'cause I don't got a slaver pullin' my strings." He rested his head in his hand. "It's better this way anywho! I'm a free mon, not like…"

"Pepper Breath!"

Impmon was struck hard by a large fireball, toppling from his branch. He landed on his head with a hard thud.

"Grrrrr… who did dat!?" he screamed. Giggling behind him was an Agumon and a Gazimon, both slightly taller than he was.

"This is our territory! No outsiders allowed!" the Agumon stared defiantly at Impmon.

"This ain't nobody's territory! Least of all two losers like youse freaks!"

The Gazimon and Agumon exchanged an amused glance.

"Ok then, we'll kick you out by force!" the Gazimon went into a fighting stance.

"Let's rumble!!" Impmon created a swirling tunnel and summoned his dark fireball. "Night of Fire!!"

"And stay out!!" the Agumon and Gazimon heaved a semi-conscious Impmon onto the street.

"What a weakling."

Impmon struggled to get back up. "Yeah! Youse better run! You wait 'til I…" He collapsed back onto the pavement. "Ohh… why me? What'd I ever do to deserve this?" A soft roaring was approaching him. "Wha… oh for the love a…" He threw himself back onto the sidewalk, narrowly avoiding being struck by a car. "Where are all these new Digimon comin' from, anyways? What, there more Slavers now!? There's one thing the world don' need! Bada-boom!"

"So Lee." Asked Jeri at long last. "Do you have any idea how I can move around with Takato without anyone thinking something's up?"

As Jeri and Lee were talking Lee's mother, who was now only slightly more human than Ms. Usagi had been the previous morning, was worrying her self sick thinking about her children. She had hardly slept the night before waiting for her younger son to as her worry over Suziemon slowly waned as the Virus's influence on her mind and body Waxed. As she picked at her breakfast her still, mostly, human husband and elder daughter tried to cheer her up by reminding her of Lee(mon)'s skill at martial arts, his high intelligence and the fact that it was almost impossible to carry a gun or large weapon in Japan. "After all," Lee's older sister Karin said while scrating at some of the white fur that now covered her "this isn't Amerika where any one can buy a high powered rifle." She had recently seen Michael Moors Bowling for colmbine and had been deeply affected by the movie.

_______________________________________

Watching his wife's change in behavior Mr. Wong was beginning to be grateful that his eldest child had gone out of town the week before this entire thing had started. Of course now there was no telling what home 'Richie' would return to. With luck things would be cleared up by the time the teenager got home. Failing that, and from that little peep on the news last night, the entire district would be quarantined and Rinchei wouldn't be dumb enough to try and sneak in and get himself infected. Wong had insisted the entire family call in sick. For their own safety as well as others. He simply had no idea about the vector of this disease, if it even was a disease. And the less chance they had of spreading it the better. But he wasn't about to hand his family over to the government when it would have no more an idea what was going on than he did. The master programmer looked at himself in a mirror, he didn't SEE any differences, of course that he slowly coming to realize meant nothing. The woman he married was becoming far too complacent with both her changes and Suzie's now. One could write this off to motherly instinct, but the moment he heard her say Suziemon, he knew better. To be on the safe side he compared how he looked right now to a photo recently taken of himself. Well, both the man in the mirror and in the photo was most diffidently a human being. At least he didn't need to worry about losing his human ego, for the moment. He wondered if Suzie and 'Karin' were going to go through the same mental changes he wife was now 'not experiencing.' Jaarin and Shuichon didn't seem to be acting different, of course now he had to question his own mind Wong began to fear if he could trust his own conclusions. He was certainly taking the shock of his family turning into Digimon much better than he thought he should. Maybe this had to do slightly with the fact he knew digimon had been real life computer programs and not just pictures on playing cards.

Still, whatever had caused this 'infection' in the first place wasn't like anything he had programmed, assuming it was computer driven at all. This was the real world. Not the inside of a hard drive. The idea of tiny robots was not outside the realm of possibility after everything that was going on. This thing was clearly following some sort of program since they weren't all turning into the same thing. Or it could just be all random. He just didn't have enough information! If this thing was just the product of random chance that meant there weren't any rules to play by, and thus no guarantee there was a way to win. On the other hand if this was created on purpose then it might not be a good thing either, because it was clearly the product of a brilliant mind that was either a complete inept, evil, or utterly insane.

"Then why doesn't your project director tell me this all himself?!" Said Hiroshi glaring at the Hynos agent also now wearing a bio-suit.

"Our project director has recently decided to make the majority of his orders via phone. I don't ask why."

At least their captors weren't getting along. Thought Usagimon listening to the agent and squad member verbally duke it out. Too bad most of what they were saying seemed to be either legal or technical mumbo-jumbo.

To add to her stress one of the kids had broken down during their 'examination' and was now crying for 'mom-mon.' Usagimon just wasn't trained to handle this.

Else where Yamaki was not in a good mood earlier that morning he had been half asleep next to the fully digivolved and fast asleep Rileymon contemplating weather he should wake her so they could continue the previous nights "activities", which they had both thoroughly and quiet loudly enjoyed, when the loud ringing of his phone pulled from his pleasant thought and back to an unpleasant reality in which he had to deal with fools. So it was that Yamaki had to micromanage things by phone while fighting very, very hard to keep his now deMONic temper and not damage his apartment further.

Fortunately he had Rileymon's unquestioning and highly capable assistance with every thing that required the use of his lap top as well as a few other things like breakfast, he absolutely refused to have take out first thing in the morning. Still coordinating the efforts of Hypnos's M.I.B and helping them deal with the official government agents was beginning to give him a headache. 'Why can't the fools see only i truly understand what's happeing!' Yamaki thought glairing at the phone in front of him.

When Lee hesitated to answer Kazu opened his big mouth.

"Maybe we could all just pretend we're part of a parade."

Lee returned. "Be quite Kazu."

"You know Lee." Terriermon surmised. "For all WE know 99% of the city is already infected and no one will even notice us. Momentai."

"This isn't a survival horror game Terriermon." Lee reminded. "Where the entire city has been turned into monsters except for the rookie cop and the pretty looking industrial spy."

"As if you would know. You don't even have that game."

"Maybe so, but some of the fan written novelizations are more in-depth than the 'official' publishing's." In fact he had liked one in particular, he didn't know the writer's real name of course, only that her writer's ID was LadyCerberus and had kindly translated her work from English to Japanese.

Kenta's beak clicked. "The people who write that stuff with so much effort knowing they'll never make any money off it all have holes in their heads if you ask me."

Lee leaped to the defense of his on-line pen pals. "There's more to life than just cash you know."

"Yea but you have to mix what you like with making a living."

"Since when are you such a deep thinker?"

"Deep? Seems like common sense to me."

Terriermon quipped. "I prefer having uncommon sense!"

Lee muttered. "You would."

Liz, in case one couldn't guess, wasn't Japanese by birth, but her black hair and skin tan hid it well. The stereotype that all Americans were blue eyed and blond haired helped her as well and kept people from being uncomfortable around her. But she couldn't change how she felt. A Japanese reporter would have rolled over and played dead the moment the hazard crew showed up. And after the stunt she pulled, (airing the unfiltered truth to an unprepared public) a Japanese reporter would have done a 'reprieve' and withdrawn from the business.

Of course now her van was wrecked and it would bound to come out of her pay check, Neko having the blessing of being a camera man and thus interchangeable with the equipment.

Liz had come overseas humming 'I want to change the world', then reality hit and she had to do what she had to, to just get by.

Thinking through all of it, Liz wondered if it had all been worth it just to get the truth out.

It was questionable if she would make rent this month with a hole that big in her pay check, and more importantly she was wondering if she'd end up on a 'missing persons' report along with all the poor kids here. Just for truth.

Yes. She reflected. It was worth it.

Running her hands through her hair and makeing a slightly frustrated noise Liz turned to her cameramon er man and said in a frustrated tone "C'mon lets see if the 'M.I.B.' are willing to let me go yet." As they left neither noticed the dark blond roots of Liz's hair or the blueish tinit her skin was begining to develop.

It was then that Culumon A.K.A. shining evolution woke up. He was in a what would be a good mood if he was anyone else despite the nightmare he'd had, due to a few good dreams shortly before wakeing up, but since he wasn't anyone else it could be said that he was slghtly depressed. Decieding that wanted to play he jumped on to the back of his favorite play mate Gulimon and chanted "Let's play! C'mon! C'mon! C'mon! Horsie ride! Horsie ride! Horsie ride!."

"Hrm? Oh, morning Calumon." Guilmon cheerfully greeted his rider.

"The big guys are thinking hard, huh?"

"Yeah. They're trying to find some way to get home."

"You know," Calumon fell as deep in thought as he could, "If you had those round things, you could race with all those scary Digimon that go vroooom down the road."

Guilmon smiled, "Those things are cars, silly. And I can be a car. Watch." Guilmon ran in a random circle and made engine noises, bouncing up and down. Calumon was laughing his little heart out.

"Maybe we can..." Lee knew this was going to sound dumb, and Terriermon probably had a million and one dumb jokes to follow, but it was worth a try. It wasn't like anyone else had any bright ideas. "...you know, just call our parents to come and pick us up?"

Guilmon took one look at Lee which said 'no way' and his dinosaur brain remembered what had happened yesterday when Lee had lost it. Guilmon's brain was complex enough to know to avoid pain. Calumon on the other hand, being the imbodiment of innocence, had a harder time learning and continued his request long after the others were continueing their discussion.

Calumon got the message a life time later and folded his ears hoping that the group would think of something fun to do soon.

After thinking about Lee's suggestion for a few seconds Jeri said "That's not a bad idea, still if we do call one of our parents they'd have to be one of your parents as mine don't have a vehicle we can ride and even if Takato's parents can still drive they don't use there bakeries van for personal things. Besides I'm not going to take any chance that we'll infect my family."

-----

"How about we go to Takato's home at nightfall" Jeri suggests to them

"That a good idea... but what are we going to do to pass the time then?" Lee asks

"I got two ideas" Jeri says to Lee and he listen in

"1. We can rest till sunset... most likely sleep right through so that idea not so good" Jeri says her first idea

"2. Can have Guilmon, you and me try to get Takato to remember by telling him his human passed and his human life till sunset.... that might give you a huge headache"

"I like idea number 2, we can try that and I will survive" Lee goes up to Takatomon

"Your Takato Digimon tamer who created Guilmon" Lee tells the large red dino "How am I a Tamer? Jerimon my Tamer" Takatomon says to Lee

"Oh brother... this is going to be very touth to get him to remember who he really is" Lee sighs

Lee thought of something "Takato... how did Guilmon get born?"

That question catches Takatomon by surprise

----------

Meanwhile in the Katou household Katou Masahiko, Max, dressed only in his underwear and was examining his body in a bathroom mirror. He was eagerly looking for signs that he was changing like his best friend Joe or Joe's big sister Yukiko who had gotten a 'cool' white dinosaur tail and scales. Had he known what the change really was or that it was permanent he would have had a very different opinion indeed.

As it was he had happily found a few signs that he was changing in the fact that his ears were pointier, his eye's a little larger, his skin was more yellowish and a bump most of the way down his back that something told his was the beginnings of a tail.

________

"HOW many infected kids get out?" Said the containment director at a suborndinate, who had finnished checking names and which students had been at school that day and which were not accounted for.

"We've counted at least five. Aparently it was durning their break when we were still setting up. Don't ask me how they did it. Maybe they grew wings and flue away."

"If this was any other time or place I'd say that was crazy, but right now I'd take it as a real possiblity."

One of the Hypnos agents who was there in the room looked like he was ready to blow a gasget (metaphorically speaking).

"This is unaccpetable! Those things have to be restrived at once. The last thing we need is this infection spreading any further!"

"Things?" Said the man in the bio-suit, though that wasn't very discriptive given the fact everyone there who wasn't a student or teacher was wearing the same protective covering. They had installed the tent top in case the disease had an airborn vector as they suspected was true given the rate the disease seemed to have spread among that one particular class. People who had yet to show signs of the disease were kept seperate from what was hard to call a human being anymore. "With all due respect these are plague victims, not aliens from outer space."

_________

"Do you want this disease to spreed all over Japan?"

Sympathly in this line of work really could get in the way of your job.

"How's containment going at that private school?"

"Tight as a drum, no escapes."

"At least something is going right."

The Agumon and Gazimon patted themselves on the back for a job well done. The digimon hadn't been worth their time. They didn't think about how they couldn't remember anything save from the day before when they woke up near a human/digimon hybrid. They were proving who was the strongest around and that was what counted. They hear a female, yet emotionless voice from behind them.

"Hello there? Wanna play. I want to." They turned and saw a young Renamon with violet eyes looking at them coldly. The fox shifted from standing with her arms crossed to a attack stance.

Their egos built up from beating the snot out of Impmon, the two digimon followed their basic instinct and attacked without a second thought. Digimon were driven to fight by their programming, a little feeling in the back of their heads that compelled them to attack any other digimon they didn't know personally on sight.

The Renamon jumped and summersalted over her two opponents. Landing on one foot, the kitesume turned and in blur of a kind broke the Agumon's arm.

The Gazimon charged in and got a half fist to the throat. He couldn't breath, his throat had been hit in just the right place to cut off his breathing even after the blow had left. As darkness came about, he felt himself dissolve, and lose his sense of self as he came part of someone else.

The young kitesume breathed in deep, shaking from the rush, was this was all digimon felt when obsorbing a slay opponent? No wonder it was so addicting.

The kitesume in her young life had never known anything so thrilling, so stimulating. Absorbed digimon made a second death cry as their data was assimilated into the victory's source code, being denied to even recompile instead to become part of something that was not them. She kitesume felt the rush of data flow into her. She had known how to do it out of instinct. It was perfectly natural, and she found it as impossible to be horrified by it then by blinking. And having felt another digimon's stregnth flow through her before becoming her own, any resemblence to it's original formatting lost forever, she knew what all south sector digimon knew after their first kill. She wanted more. And seeing the Agumon with the broken arm looking at her in total fear, she knew where to get it.

Outside the promising if deceptively inexperinced kitesune's senses stood a taller and more developed female Renamon using her more honned senses to keep track of the fight. Like the younger one, Renamon simply couldn't be angsted with her sarrogate daughter's actions. She knew Rika wasn't really a digimon, she simply had the body of one right now. In spite of her own desire not to, Renamon had a flash back to Reremon's first solo-kill, it had been just as swift and percise. Renamon right now could only wonder what side of Rika's personality was in control, but no matter the personality, Rika now had a digimon's instinct to fight. Renamon had taken that insinct and sculpted it, refined it, allowing her to focus all the more in battle. But she had never denied it. After all, she could not be expected to give up her urge to fight anymore than a real world tiger could be expected to start eating greens or a plant eater to start devoring flesh. It was a part of who she was, and now, it was a part of Rika.

Even as Takatomon struggled with the return of his human memories Lee(mon) was haveing the opposet problem. The young digimon stood in front of the Matsuda's phone unable to make up his mind weather or not to call his family. The problem was that well he could easily remember his home phone number he couldn't quite recall what his family looked like or what the names of his siblings were, He couldn't even remember if he called his mother Mom or Momon!!

Realizing this Lee(mon)'s knees gave out leaveing him stitting in front of the Matsuda's phone as tears began falling from his eyes.

While Takato-mon had Jeri to comfort him. Lee here had no one to comfort him. Well, almost no one. "Hey Leemonaid, you look . . .kinda . .. blue?" Terriermon was shock at what he was seeing. Never in his life had he seen his Tamer actually cry! No, he had seen him cry once, right when they first met, and Lee had learned that Terriermon was more than pixiles on a computer screen, the Chinese/Japanese boy had looked at the injuired data dog/bunny wishing he could make right what he made wrong. Terriermon at the time hadn't really understood what Lee was doing, after all, digimon exist to fight, don't they? However, something about the way Lee had acted around the rookie type had struck a cord. No one had ever been nice to Terriermon. The only thing anyone in the digital world had wanted from Terriermon was his data smashed in downloadable bits. But Lee had wanted to be . . . his 'friend.' A word that Lee Terriermon suspected in his own way was still in the process of teaching the digimon the meaning of.

Was this what Lee felt when he saw Terriermon for the first time in the real world? Something that went beyond desire and became a need to help another? Terriermon felt his head spin at the new ideas he had learned since coming to this world.

Terriermon said using his most solemn voice. "Hey Lee . .. don't cry . . . we'll figure out something."

"Lee?" The lopmon said look Terriermon in the face.

"Huh?"

"Lee . . . not Leemon?"

"Uh . . . yea." Terriermon did not like the sounds of THAT.

"Thanks . .. I . .. I needed a reminder."

"Any time."

"Whao yea baby, let's see some action." If Imp got hit by a truck, Jeri realized she would have a hard time feeling sorry for him. Grapping him by his pointed tail she threw him into Takato's hamper with basket ball player percision.

"Ha! You think your dirty socks can stop me! Though they are making me . . . kinda woozy . . . ugh." Impmon fainted.

As the reporter and her Cameramon attempted to leave the school Juri's best friends Miki and Ayaka were in the girls bathroom gossiping about the fact that they were being quarantined. "You know Ayaka it's strange that no one seems to know why were being quarantined." Miki said as she ran her long purple, nail less fingers through her hair.

"That's true Miki, although I did hear one of the men from the C.D.C. mention that they will have to release in this evening." Ayaka said as she put lip gloss on the extremely thin lips of her beak like mouth and brushed her feathery pink hair back.

"Really? How did you learn that Ayaka?" Miki asked curiously as she inspected her green skin certain that something was wrong with it but for the life of her she was unable to tell what.

"Oh, I overheard him arguing with to one of the weirdo's in black suits and sunglasses. The weirdo kept insisting we be kept here or shipped off to northern Hokkaido to be isolated until a cure was found." Ayaka answered as some the strain of what had and was happening showed in her voice and the way she was almost yanking at her hair. "Anyway," she continued calming down some. "The CDC man said that since what ever disease they think every one has dosen't seem to be dangours or extreamly infectious they are required to send every one home by noon tomarrow at the latest."

Unnoticed to either girl a few large pink feathers drifted from Ayaka's head to the floor near her feet.

Usagimon sat down in a chair in the teachers lounge with a deep sigh. She was haveing the most stressful day of her life what with having to deal with the C.D.C officials. The M.I.B.'s who had yet to say what government agency they were from, the many embarrassing tests both groups had performed on every one but them selves and on top of all that she had to deal with her students.

Suddenly Usagimon's thoughts were interrupted by the sound of the door opening and one of her fellow teachers entering. "Ah! There you are Ms. Usagimon. I have great news!" Said the blue skinned man who's shirt and coat seemed to be were more than a few sizes to small for him. After pausing to collect him the other teacher continued in a more dignified tone "I just heard that the authorities will be sending every one home by tomorrow morning. It seems that since they have decided that what ever they think we have isn't a health risk and they can't find what's causing what ever they think we have they might as well send every one home and be quarantined there. "

The Hypnos agent sweared and cursed under his breath in his protective suit at the bio-hazard team rep who had informed him of the disease control center's decision. How could anyone be so stupid?! It was beyound his reasoning faculities! Hypnos always worked from the shadows, forced into broad day light, there wasn't a thing they could really do! Ugh!

He would have to make a suggestion to Yamaki to collect the infected samples (meaning the kids and stupids) at their homes and perform more in depth testing back at the labs.

For now it was a good idea to bow out and set-up for plan B.

Relilymon was really impressed by her mate's reaction, he didn't bring the entire apartment down around her ears. Instead he just gave one of his mandatory rants, afterwards having reason again he began plans to keep things under control in his own way. While Relilymon was a bit confused by what he was planning, she knew better than to try and contradict him.

Takato's parents called Kazu and Kenta's parents, no sense in holding things off anymore.

Takatomon's parents were a little surprise when they saw how doctile their son was acting. They wondered if his flue was coming back for revenge.

Lee knew he had to talk to his dad, hoping that both of them were still themselves by the time they did.

"You go first." Insisted Kenta.

"No you go first!" Retorted Kazu. The two boys were debating over which of them would call their parents first, and of course everyone wanted as much time as possible in the futile attempt to create a story that would ensure they wouldn't be grounded till high school.

Kazu and Kenta carry on to argue at one another deciding who should go first. Takatomon's parents could hear the arguing from the shop floor where they was serving some customers that looked more Digimon then human the last time they saw some of the customers.

"Do you think we should step in dear?" Said the female V-Dramon to her Allomon husband.

"Give them a few more minutes, then we'll step in. Maybe they'll resolve it on their own."

"How old are they?"

"Point taken."

The arguing had gone a step too far and now they was only seconds away from attacking one another. Takatomon's parents knew they had to do something before Kazu and Kenta attack each other in the house.

"You're the female, taking care of kids is your department."

"And desplining kids is yours." Unlike Kenta however, Takato's father was not in the mood to argue and left his wife at the store front to deal with the boys. When all else fails, flip for it.

"Ha! My call! Start dailing bird boy!"

"I'm starting to think your coins are rigged."

Kenta sighed and gave up the argument and start slowly dailing in his home number on the phone have small trouble doing it since he had wings (Is that right?)

After several rings the phone finally picked up, the moment Kenta identified himself, he had to move a few inches away from the phone or risk going deaf. His mother was on a rampage.

"Kenta where have you been? Get yourself home this instant! This is worse than the tunnel!"

"I told you that was Kazu's idea."

"If he jumped over a cliff would you do that too?!"

Kazu tried to cantain himself from laughing hearing Kenta's mum yelling at Kenta. Kenta on the other hand was getting a little annoyed at Kazu chuckling under his breath.

Lee was split between wanting the duo to finish so he could call his father and wanting more time to prep himself and wondering if he really had the time to waste.

Takato-mon. "Hey Leemo-Lee." Lee started that Takato had remembered if only after saying it to leave the mon out of his name. "Why don't you use our business line? Momon and dadmon don't like it when I use it, but I think they'll let you."

Lee gave his thanks as Takato-mon lead him to the family's business phone. Steeling himself, Lee decided to go with the flow of whatever his parents said so not to cause confusion on their end.

Lee wait for a handful of rings, wondering it would be his father or mother who would answer first, and was thinking about what he would say to either, as with most antisapation, it was choice number three.

"Hello?"

"Uh . . . Hi Suzie? Is dad there?"

"Henry!" _Ugh. What does she always have to call me by my middle name?! _"You're alright! Mom's been acting weird and is worried about you!"

"Weird how? . . ." Lee said slowly.

"Well, she's saying my name funny, saying it a mon on the end."

_Okay. _Lee noted. _Mom has lost her mind but Suzie still knows that things are not the way they were supposed to be. Now I can just hope Suzie somehow takes after dad. _

"Mom's just sick Suzie . . . can I talk to dad?"

It seems that Suzie and Lee's dad has a strong will against that mind change that happened to others when they turned into Digimon like Takato's parents for example.

"Uh, okay, he's in his room I'll go see . . ."

Lee sighed feeling a knote in his stomach as he waited for the phone to be picked up. Finally he patence was rewarded.

"Lee!" Shouted his father into the phone on the other end. "Where are you? Are you okay? I mean, have you,-"

"I've just been going through some . . . changes dad."

"You're not the only one son."

"Thank goodness, I was afraid you had been affected mentally like Takatomon and his parents. Agh! I mean Takato!"

Looks like Lee's dad semi-affected by this mental state that others have been totally affected. Looks like not all can hold their true reality together. Takato on the other hand, his human mind seem to be trying to force it self to the surface of his mind giving him confusion as he try to figure out stuff.

"Lee, son, you need to stay focused." Spoke his father seriously.

"I know but, dad I'm scared, I think I might be going crazy, I've actually HEARD my other self talking to me!" This was his father, he could trust him, lay his faith him, he'd never do anything to hurt his own son.

Silence. Utter silence from his father, Lee could hear Suzie in the back ground. The lack of voice from his father was frightening.

"Lee where are you?"

"Takato's, he and his parents are completely changed, in every way." Lee knew that the time for games was over. He would tell him about Terriermon. About the D-Powers. About the digimon popping up in the real world. About the men in black hanging out in the back ground. Digimon were computer based. This infection had to be computer based too. And Lee knew his father was the best computer programmer there was. If only Lee knew how right, (about this sub devision of source coding) he was.

"Dad, there are some things I need to tell you."

Takato-mon (opposed to Takato or Takatomon) guessed what Lee was about to tell the computer programmer, and didn't try to stop him. There really was no point in hiding anymore, either the true came out now, or the true could very well be changed.

"Dad . . ." Lee repeated. "You know that stuffed Terriermon? The one I'm always having to steal back from Suzie? Well, it-"

"HEY!" _He Does have good hearing. _Lee thought to himself.

"-he, is alive, has always been alive, was never a human being. That computer game I got upset about because of the digimon feeding off of each other's information? Terrerimon came out of the screen after I played it."

Even with the way things were, Wong would still have questioned his son's truthfulness or sanity if he hadn't recalled the day after his son had gotten aforementioned game. His youngest son's eyes had been red from crying, the boy had made up some cheap lie about something being in his eye. But it had also been the first time he had seen Lee with that life sized digimon on his shoulders, seemly hanging on by his head. He had never been able to figure out how the toy had done that, and it had really been on the bottom of his things to find out over the course of the year.

People who didn't know him would wonder how Wong had noticed anything strange at all about his child, but Wong was not a workaholic and made it a point to notice things about his family. Maybe it was that basic desire to stay aware that allowed him to notice things while his wife fell under this infection's power? Who knew, and it would have to matter later.

Lee knew he would just have to trust that his dad believed him when his parent didn't burst out laughing or tell him to from the very beginning and wasn't signing to his Lee's mother on the other end to call a child psychology ward with a secondary line.

"When he came out, my computer's card reader changed, it transformed into a hand gadget. I didn't know what would happen to Terriermon if he was found out so we came up with the stuffed animal act as a cover."

"Stuffed animal?" Lee felt a chill figuring he already knew where Suzie's new found good hearing had come from. "You mean Terriermon doesn't like tea?"

"Suzie it's not polite to shout and don't listen in when other people are talking on the phone." Lee's mother. Oh boy, the last thing the Chinese/Japanese boy needed was to have to endure a lecture mixed with words of comfort from his mother right now (as much he would have enjoyed it).

"And to make a long story short I'm not the only kid who this happened to, though it was completely different for each one. And dad, I don't care if you believe me or not or think I'm too young to know better, but I know that they aren't responsible for this. Something else is."

"Dear, who is that on the phone?"

"Alight mom, alright already!" Kazu exsaberation. "I'll come right over. Huh? Nonononomomillcometoyouipromiseicomestraighthome! If I break this promise you can ground me for a month! Huh? Already? Okay two months!"

Seeing bird boy being verbally hammered by his parent made Kazu seriously wonder what was going to happen to his non-existent ears when it was his turn. Changed or not, his parents would still make his home coming painful for being so glrossly late coming home.

Lee's father, decided not to press the issues with his son way or the other.

"No one dear." He quickly whispered into the phone. "Stay where you are. I'll pick you up myself as fast as I can."

The programmer quickly slammed the phone down, lied to his wife a second time, and ran out the door barely having time to put his shoes on ignoring her questions and slammed the door hoping she'd forgive him when he got back.

"That's wonderfull news Mr. Fujita! Do you know when did they said people can start leaveing?" Uasgimon asked excitedly.

"Yes," Mr. Fujita responed "They said that they would start sending every home in about an hour, starting with the youngest children of course. They said the whole thing should take more than three hours. "

"That's wonderful news, I must go tell my students!" Usagimon exclaimed as she stood up, not noticing the way her more intimate apparel was starting to slip off, and began heading in the direction of her class room well Mr Fujita went to inform more teachers.

"WHAT?!" Yamaki had roared on his end of the phone, dang the Hypnos grunt thought, it really did sound like a roar. "This is unacceptable!"

"I'm sorry sir, but in term of public health they override us. We can't do more without exposing ourselves."

The agent shivered at the inhuman growl at the other side of the connection. "Get the name and address of everyone there. You can do at least that correct?"

"Yes sir. But what-"

"Your's is not to reason why. Only to do or else."

This man in black wasn't stupid enough to ask what the 'else' was. "Sir. Yes sir."

"Now what is the status of the private school?"

"Going a lot better and a lot smoother. No big mouthed news reporter means we can act a lot more effectively. All the focus is here from those bioharard twits, and plus the, ahem, infected, aren't giving us half the trouble as they are here. They're all just scared and doctile."

"Good. These morons don't know how vicious and savage digital monsters are, we can't risk a batch getting out into the public weather they used to be human or not."

"I . .. . understand sir."

Kenta hooted out as he finally hung up the phone. At least she hadn't asked about the weird clicking sound every few seconds. Dang, his mom was out of her head when she got mad. However, she had given him a strict time limit, and if he missed getting home in that very narrow window, she'd call the police, along with him forgetting about any new digimon cards, TV, or time over at Kazu's for the next several months and spend all his free time looking at the four walls of his bed room.

"Well I better run!" Kenta didn't get far as Kazu took hold of him.

"No way Birdie!" Kazu shot back pull on him. "If I had to listen to your mom go phsyco on you, then you have to stay for mine."

"But that could take hours! And if I don't get home soon, mom will pluck me."

"I'm willing for you to take the risk."

Kenta tried pulling but Kazu's sucion cop finger tips proved strong enough to hold him.

Sighing in defeat Kenta relented. Kazu took a moment to straighten out his shirt and jeans.

Mummering a quick prayer to high heaven that his mother proved a bit more tolerent than Kenta's (it wasn't like Kazu's mom wasn't used to getting phone calls relating to him before) his punched in the numbers, felt his finger stick, and did the rest of the numbers with his knuckles.

Takato's mother didn't interfer in any of this, she had trust in mother's judgement being one herself and was sure that the boys would be treated farly.

The responce from Kazu's parents went well, he wasn't disowned, and through the act of some unknown god he was able to convince them to have him come to them instead of the other way around. Only question was, what the reaction was going to be when they finally arrived.

Anyone who knew Kazu and Kenta long enough, always asked the same question: were they related? The answer 'no' came up, the next question was weather or not they had started out as one person who had gotten split in two. While one could expect a tamer and digimon to always be together like two of a kind, with Kenta and Kazu it was more like how the right arm and left arm are always together. They certainlly had similar enough home lives . . . and hearing problems for the next couple minutes after they got off the phone. Kazu got worse then Kenta . . . Kenta got his mother, Kazu got his dad.

Suziemon felt strange, it felt like was she tired but still had enough energy for her daily routine, which didn't leave her with less energy than she got up with. Near the end of the third day of this Suziemon suddenly collapsed on the floor of her room feeling exhausted and empty but before she could react she felt her body collapse in on it's self as it shrank and reformed completing her dedigivolution from a Terriermon into a Gummymon.

A few seconds later her virus altered mind finished adapting to the new development and Suziemon happily resumed playing tea party with only a little difficulty.

To be concluded.

Say what you will in your review.


	18. Charles M's Rumikomon Scene

This is another scene of Charles' revamped. There was an element here I originally disapproved of, but I've since come to realize it ain't so bad. read and pass judgement.

The hours dragged on with no sign of Rika or Noniko. Renamon had learned to be patient. But something was eating at her. Finally she asked. "Where is . . . Nokiko's normal place of business this time of day?"

The old woman thought for a moment. "I think that would be De Moir's studio."

"Where is it?" Renamon insisted.

"Three block down the start of main street, business section. White building, lots of glass windows, saves them a fortune on lighting bills she told me. It's impossible to miss."

"Thank you." Renamon replied with a quick bow and prayer stance. "My gratitude for the food and the hospitality you've shown me in your home."

The woman didn't need to ask where the vixen was going. "You think Rika will be there?"

"You said so yourself. . . Rika is like me. We both try to bury our feelings. But Rika needs her mother. her real mother. Something I can't be no matter how much I wish. Thank you again. I will return with your granddaughter or not at all." The kitsune stepped into a shadow and faded into invisibility before the old woman could react.

A few minutes later, as Renamon sped across the rooftops of Tokyo as swift and unseen as the wind; she almost lost her stride and stumbled. Something she almost never did. Something was seriously amiss. She could sense Rika, but who was that with her? Why did it feel like there were more than one of her? That simply didn't make any sense.

Renamon followed the strange aura and eventually found herself approaching the school where the Tamers Takato and Lee went. The feeling of -wrongness- grew even stronger as he watched the central playground fill with men wearing space suits and air-tight plastic tents.

Renamon wouldn't have cared less if the place had been on fire, or under attack by that gigantic radioactive digimon Godzillamon she'd seen on a movie posters plastered all over the city. She had to find her Tamer. There simply wasn't any other option.

But where was Rika? There! A single leap took her from the sidewalk to the school's rooftop. Unseen by the humans milling below, she soon found the partially digivolved human child curled into a ball and shivering.

"Rika?" Renamon asked tenderly.

The former human's violet within black eyes opened and her shaking slowly stopped to see the kitesune-mana digimon in standing above her.

"R-Rika?" The child digimon repeated as if unsure what the word meant. She got to her feet, her legs trembling; she took hold of the raised edge of the building to keep from vomiting her insides. Renamon didn't know whether or not to help her; Rika's pride was a delicate thing.

One of Rika's legs collapsed out from underneath her. She was in danger of tumbling over the side of the building.

To hell with pride.

Renamon held her within her arms, and kept holding her long after it was obvious to both of them that Rika didn't need her support.

"Rika are you okay?" Renamon asked. Normally a dumb question, but Rika often had to be forced to admit when she needed help, Renamon bitterly admitted, Terriermon in his own way had been right.

"I . . . w-we're just fine." The smaller digimon breathed her head swimming. What had been going on?

"We?" Renamon thought with alarm.

"Rika . . ." She spoke seriously. "What's your full name?"

The child struggled to reply, but three equally correct sounding replies fought to escape her lips. One name finally did. A name that fit with what the digimon standing in front of her had called her so far. "Rika Nonaka."

Renamon was relieved. "I was afraid I had lost you again."

Rika spoke darkly gathering herself. "Don't you mean gained me again?"

Renamon understood her feelings. "That can never be. Not really. It's a lie that can only trap and hurt us both. Come now. Your grandmother is waiting for you back at home."

"I . . . I . . . have to . . ." It seemed she was struggling with what she wanted to say, or didn't want to say. "Have to . . . seemymother." Renamon had to lean forward catch the slurred reply.

"You're worried about her." Renamon pointed out.

Rika hissed. "Don't rub it in."

"I was actually thinking that was where you would be going. I could sense your aura linked to that place somehow." Renamon decided to leave out the strange experience that Rika's aura had give her, though for now it seemed back to normal.

"Let's go then." Rika breathed.

"Your grandmother gave me directions. Follow me" Renamon honesty couldn't resist the last part -Everyone had their moments of weakness-. "That is, if you can keep up"

Renamon blasted ahead. Rikamon followed a mere fraction behind her. She was determined not to be shown off that easily.

Renamon, with the digimorphed Rika just a fraction of a second behind her, sped across a sea of tiled and slate covered rooftops like a yellow furred bullet train. Jumping from one to another with the ease of a human taking a single step, she crossed a good portion of Tokyo.

Barely a handful of minutes away from where she'd started; Renamon was soon approaching the city's business district and the exclusive photo studio De Moir where Rika's mother, Noniko, did much of her high-fashion modeling work. Hurling herself from a roof ledge, Renamon gracefully spun head over paws several times before landing as light as a feather on the concrete sidewalk three stories below.

Without missing a beat, she and Rika zigzagged through the sparsely crowded streets and roads as if the people and cars they passed were standing still. Such was their velocity that few people noticed much more than a blur and gust of wind as they passed.

The reason for the sparsely inhabited neighborhood in the normally crowded city soon became apparent; the photo studio was surrounded by a sea of humanity. A crowd of people at least six deep fought to peer through the shop's large front window. And even more people where coming from all directions.

Slowing only for the moment it took to plan her next move, Renamon, with Rika

following closely behind, faded into invisibility and materialized on the building's roof without a single human noticing their arrival.

"Now what?" Rika asked as Renamon pondered that very question.

Going through the front door was out. While Renamon could easily enter the building and move about unseen. it was the rare human indeed who could perceive her presence unless she wished it so. Rika was the wildcard in this equation.

Renamon took a glance at Rika and saw her smirk. Damn! It'd happened again! She knew that look. It was the same Reremon had shown her before leaping into the battle that would take her life. The same devil-may-care expression Rika had begun to mimic when the virus had nearly succeeded in transforming a human Tamer into a living ghost of her dead child.

Renamon wondered if seeing her real mother would snap Rika back to reality again. Would Rika, now seemingly fully transformed in body and soul into her digimon daughter, Reremon, recover her human memories when a human woman called her daughter?

A question, as fate dictated, doomed to go unanswered this day.

"Mother! Come quick!" Rika yelled from several feet away.

Wincing internally at the label, Renamon turned to see that Rika, with all the stereotypical brashness of a kitsune cub, had gone exploring with little care as to the consequences.

Finding a large glass skylight, Rika had knelt and looked down hoping to find the source of all the excitement. Her hopes were quickly realized. What Renamon saw as she knelt beside her instantly made her forget what Rika had called her.

Despite being nearly total immersed into her digimon persona, Rika's human subconscious screaming in outrage at being forced anywhere near this place. This hated human place that she held directly responsible for taking her... what? This brightly lit place, these money-loving smiling people with their snapping cameras that had come between her and... who?

Try as she might, the answer refused to come, but the emotions tied to this place where as hot and bright as the lights shinning on the Kyubimon standing in the center of the room.

Few digimon would ever know the beauty, intelligence, power and grace every kitsune, both male and female, considered their birthright from Rookie to Mega. No matter the level of digi-evolution, the word most used to describe them as a group was -among themselves-... perfection.

Yet, as with all things in the Real and Digital World, even perfection on occasion could be surpassed. And, if Renamon's low growl of green-eyed envy was any indication, the creature they were staring at so intently was one such rare case.

Standing rock still on four well-muscled limbs, a Kyubimon female stood chained in the center of a large wooden stage as if daring the circling cameraman to come within range of her sharp three-clawed paws.

Every strand of fur on her body and mane seemed to have a mind of its own. Even the slow movement of her head, as her eyes remained fixed on the rapidly clicking camera lens, seemed sufficient to make them float upwards until they gradually fell back exactly into place.

While the humans in the room could likely understand only snippets of what the cameraman mumbled as he worked, the superb hearing inherent in all three digimon present had no such trouble.

"That's good! Look at the lens! That's it! You're angry! You're unconquerable! Freeze! Look away... now! The camera isn't worth your time! Great! Now do it to the right when I move that way! Even better! I love ya! Now, lets do it again... with feeling!"

From her rooftop viewpoint, Renamon had full view of the Kyubimon's spine.

Just a glance at all those tensing muscles was all she had to see. The human with the camera had crossed the line, and, unless she did something, he was about to die. Horribly.

The act took but two seconds. Renamon grabbed the bottom edge of the skylight and yanked with all of her strength. The flimsy construction flew out of her paws and sailed across the roof landing in a hail of glass shards many feet away. She and Rika dropped into the room. Both prayed that they'd be quick enough to get the foolish human out of the line of fire in time.

A second too slow.

"Fox-Tail Inferno!" The Kyubimon yelled. Oblivious to the danger, the human kept clicking away as if trying to capture the huge pile of yellow bottles behind the creature about to kill him. There was no way he could know that the melodious voice yelling those three words had just condemned him to an agonizing death by incineration.

What had been a painfully bright room before went nova. Lowering its head to aim, the Kyubimon raised all nine of her tails in a perfect circle. From their tips white-hot balls of flame flew at the human.

None would miss.

Just inches away, Renamon grabbed Rika and bumped into the cameraman causing him to drop his camera. It was too late. The human was toast. The best she could do was protect Rika with her body from the wall of flames hurling towards them. No matter the price, a digimon must protect its Tamer. A digimon must protect those it loved.

She had failed in this task once. Never again.

The flames passed leaving little more than a mild scent of brimstone and ozone in their wake. That, and one extremely annoyed cameraman.

"You idiots! Do you have any idea what that camera costs?! If you ruined that film you're both going to pay! It took all day to get this shampoo shoot organized!"

"Relax Jackie, I'm sure it was an accident. You know how Rikamon is." The Kyubimon spoke as she walked off the stage dragging the heavy chain behind her. In their rush to save the cameraman, neither Renamon nor Rika had noticed that it'd been attached to nothing.

"Rikamon? You know who Rikamon is?" Renamon repeated word for word in shock.

Not only had she just survived a massive attack that'd been far more bark than bite, this creature recognized Rika as a digimon. Could it be?

"By any chance is your name... Noniko-er,mon?"

"I see my daughter is up to her old tricks." The Kyubimon announced followed by a deep sigh. "You know how young Mons can be. She has never accepted what I do for a living since her father... left. It's not like I haven't tried. This is nothing. You should've seen what happened the last time I brought here! Sorry, gotta go before Jackie has a meltdown. The clock's still ticking!"

In an instant the Kyubimon is buried under an avalanche of brushes and hair blowers. The makeup people work rapidly to ready the furry digimon for resumption of the interrupted photo shoot. None seem phased in the slightest that the famous modeling star premiering in this shampoo commercial walks on four legs and throws fireballs on command. None seem likewise perturbed in the slightest that their bodies were displaying the early signs of a transformation that they could never begin to magine.

"Mother?" A shaky voice questions.

Turning around, Renamon finds Rika staring with a glazed eyes towards the Kyubimon having all her tails fluffed, and the claws on her paws painted a bright blood-red.

Renamon's answer is only one word longer. Pointing a paw in the Kyubimon's direction she replies, "That's her."

"Oh." Rika replies as an anime sweat drop appears on her brow. A second later her eyes roll back as her unconscious body starts to slide towards the floor.

Grabbing her limp body before it hits, Renamon races away with Rika cradled like a baby in her arms. The only thought going through her mind is an often repeated phrase common to both the Digital and Real Worlds.

You know how young Mons... children... can be.

*****

When Rika awoke, she realized she was in her room again. Had it all been a dream? She looked over her bare fur covered body and down at her three clawed toes. Nope, it wasn't a dream. It was a nightmare.

"I was afraid you weren't going to wake up." Rika sensed Renamon behind her even before she spoke.

"I'm still not awake. Not until this nightmare is over. Renamon. tell me . . . tell me please that what I remember seeing was just a nightmare. When I saw my mother, was she a...? "

While Renamon was overjoyed that Rika was herself again, she hated being the bearer of bad tidings. Answering this question would bring Rika only more pain.

"Yes. I can't be sure, but I talked to your grandmother. I don't think I need to tell you who took your clothes to the dry cleaners yesterday. This . . . infection. seems to have a mind of its own. At least for now, some humans are totally unaffected, while others need only the barest contact with a carrier to become totally digitized.

Think of it this way. As the virus seems to spread faster with each host. On the bright side, as Terriermon might say, at least soon no one will notice you."

"How can I be so stupid!" Renemon screamed silently at herself the instant the words left her mouth. Terriermon HAD to be rubbing off on her. She promised to kill the data type the next time she saw him. Slowly.

As Rika leaped to her furry feet, she snarled in a very kitsune-like snarl at the image in the full-length mirror on the wall besides her bed pallet. Renamon had never seen such hatred in Rika's eyes before.

And the worst part was, Rika thought, was that she'd been HER again. the digimon that wanted to take her place. Without even realizing what was happening, she'd allowed herself to slip into that other personality.

Before Renamon could stop her, Rika smashed her fist into the glass and through the wooden wall behind it. The razor sharp shards drew blood. Rika felt nothing.

"I hate digimon!" She almost yelled. "I hate everything about them!"

"But Rika I . . ."

"Shut up Renamon! I hate you!"

"But Rika now you're also . . ."

"Then I guess I'll just have to hate myself too. And everyone else whose been infected or whatever! I hate it! I hate everything!. ." Her voice became a whisper. "Every . . . . thing."

Rika went to her knees. Shaking. Tears were coming down her face. She was tried to hide them.

"Not fair . . . it's not fair . . . any of it. It's just not fair. Renamon? Momma? Why isn't it fair?"

Renamon knelt down and hugged her surrogate daughter. "I don't know, Rika. I just. I just don't know."

In an unconscious gesture that seemed oddly familiar and strange at the same time, Renamon ran her gloved paw down Rika's fur covered back. It was several minutes before the digimon realized why and how wrong it was.

She was comforting a ghost.

"NO!! RENEMON'S GONE!! I FAILED HER!! I WON'T FAIL RIKA!!" Renamon yelled into the confines of her own troubled thoughts as she held Rika even tighter.

"Human or kitusune, at least this still seems to work." Renamon mused as her tears. a mother's tears. fell upon Rika's back.

"Maybe that's just the way it is."

Rika heard a familiar lullaby. She couldn't remember where she'd heard it before, and she was sleeping comfortably before she could ask. Asleep in the arms of someone who loved her. Someone that would never... ever... go away and

leave her alone.


	19. And All That You Would Have Ever Been

I apologize for everything. I let the story line linger too long in one place. And I didn't assert myself as head writer nearly enough (a great fault of mine). And I wasn't able to keep things interesting enough for other writers, and ultimately just got some cheap self-inserts for the last few pages.

I made many MANY mistakes in this series, first was having the characters squat around or wander around for too long without the main plot moving foreword, that's perfectly fine if that's the story you're going for, but people WANT to see the plot move foreword, and far too many tiny details got lost in the mix. Another mistake on my part was underestimating just how long the series would go and how radically things would change from the 'formula' style first few episodes. Then again, digimon seasons always start off with a couple formula episodes to get the viewer comfortable before throwing the characters out of their comfort zone. The point I started the story was when the series was still in single digit episodes, a series of fifty one episodes... And as a reviewer put it "I took a story with a cool opening and was interesting and turned it into something totally pointless."

Not to mention when you stop and realize the sheer NUMBER of characters in the series, I realized I had been far too reckless and spread myself far too thin. If this and other series have taught me anything, is that character overload is the last thing you ever want to do with any story. I think it's the sheer number of characters that has also made it impossible for me to continue. When the list of characters you need to keep track of can't even fit on screen, you know you've got a problem. And I'm 27 years old, I need to start putting my talent to something to earn a living. I don't want to spend forever working on this. I see that now.

What's really nutso is how much my old notes contradict each other. My brother used to say 'decide comes from the de' as in to divide, and cide' as in to kill. To divide your opinions and to do away with one.' I always seemed to fail in that regard.

By the way, dude, the music in the original was just so much more cool than in the dub! What's up with that?

Sorry if there are LOTS of repetitions here. This story just got way too big for it's own good, and got way too many admirable on board for the ship to boot! That was also a mistake on my part.

Rika was based off of Trinity from the Matrix? Who would have thought? "pineapple-head" term used by show's producer in the 'making of' essay on the web site.

No matter how many words I write here, they won't be enough to express my sincere apologies to all of you for not being able to write a full story for this. But time marches foreword regardless of whatever we human beings desire.

What follows is a summary of everything this story WOULD have been. Due to the sheer size of the cast to include "loads and loads of characters" I'm bound to lose track of some characters here, again, apologizes. I also made what can be considered a mistake of throw into the mix my various (and self contradicting) notes into the summary as well. Thus this story can at least reach a sense of conclusion and wholeness, and your questions you've had will be in one form or another answered.

Ayaka Itou and Miki Nakajima turned their talk to about someone they had been unable to find in the captured student body. Jeri. Just the other day she had finally built up the courage to face her tormentor Agouti head on. True puppet-girl had been acting rather intense to the point of . . . well, not acting like Agouti, but still as high strung and brooding as she was normally meek and cheerful.

She not even shown up to music class, which was stunningly out of character for her, she normally show up with her flute even if she was running a fever. All the times she wouldn't go the nurse's office until the instructor ordered her to was testament to that.

In the light of the debacle at the school between Hypnos, the Hazmat Team, and the police, the mutated kids are released back to their parents, who of course in turn mutate them as well, in light of ALL of this, the government of japan orders these families quarantined to their homes, which the kids don't mind TOO badly since at least it means no school.

Takato-mon draws in his later forms and Guilmon's, or Jeri does so under Takato-mon's guidance.

(The hyphen was supposed to represent that he had reached a point of balance in his mind between the two sides of himself. )

(And for those of you who guessed, give yourselves a cookie, yes, sleeping and dreaming WAS what caused the mental changes to accelerate due to sleep being when we mentally dump out what's not needed anymore. )

Leemon/Lee of course has his own thoughts of Rikamon gutting his deck. 'If I find her I'll ask. Right after I get the cards she stole from me!'

Rikamon had, of course, forgotten without her digi-vice she couldn't digi-modify anything! So her prize from Lee was worthless. It wasn't so much the mistake itself but the blow to her ego over such a mistake that struck her. She seriously considered dumping them but being a dedicated card player, Rika stored them in a safe spot in case she found a use for them at a later date.

(Thinking about it now, I'll admit stealing cards from someone wasn't really in Rika's character and didn't truly add anything to the story but a quick gag and added weight. )

Leemon/Lee laughed to himself, "Ha ha hah ha! I just realized it!"

Terriermon of course asked, "Realized what?"

"What Calumon is! Give him an emotion dot and what does he look like?!"

(This of course was meant to imply that Calumon resembled a chao. This was just an idiosyncrasy that I picked up on years back and figured on including. )

Jeri realized something important, her nightmare, in it, Rika had talked about Jeri continuing her 'legacy of digimon carnage' how could Jeri have even known how Rika treated digimon? But Jeri could guess, Rika's D-Power, it was the only answer, it must have had bits and pieces of Rika's memories buried in it.

(Thinking about it now, Jeri having Rika's digivice was again just added weight to the story. And I had no real idea on how to really resolve it in a practical manner of time in story. )

_A moment after __Rumiko had downed the morning pills felt strange. On an urge she looked at her hands to see that . . . they weren't there all the way anymore._

(Ah yes... this one... not sure what my plan was with this dream, besides the idea of it being seriously messed up and dealing with what she did unto Rika reflected on herself... or something like that, I don't know.)

Leemon and Jeri have another discussion regarding a pivotal point in the story.

"I just realized, I think the fact this infection makes people think they've always been digimon might be a good thing."

"How can you say that!?"

"Think about it, if this infection just changed people into digimon and have that be that, there'd be a lot more chaos and havoc going on right now."

The story at this point was SUPPOSED to skip several weeks, and my inability to DO that time skip was precisely the reason that I think this story began to die. It was my fault. After the time skip, both Jeri's district, the other Tamers', and most of Tokyo is quarantined, and -everyone- inside by this point has been fully mutated or is wearing a hazard suit at all times.

Henry's elder brother Richie was outside the effected zone at the time for a job interview, and wants back in for the sake of his loved ones.

"But that's my family in there!" Richie protested.

"Too bad!" Snorted the solider.

Richie manages to sneak in after stealing a hazard suit, for checking up on his loved ones, but the plot was never developed beyond that.

Jeri meanwhile finally moves back in with her family, who also by this time have fully mutated. Nudity for non-human type digimon has quickly become the norm. HOWEVER, Jeri has become the only person in the sealed off zone who is still mostly (or at all) human in spite of constant exposure! This of course makes her freak to both the confused digimon and fearful humans. She also suffers some of the practical problems of her minor changes (tail and claws).

Adding to her already growing list of dismays, that even with her claws seethed, she couldn't play her flute.

"_There you are, bad flute, ruff!" She had her puppet say as she took her instrument with her free hand from her desk. _

Max, it was funny, she didn't hate him, he was born from that woman but she still loved him, but he wasn't trying to take anyone's place. That had not always been her conclusion, back her paranoia had been at it's worst, she thought Max was there to replace her, just as that woman had replaced her mother, thankfully she had come to realize that Max, nor their father or that woman had any desire for Max to replace anyone. Plus he loved her sock puppet act.

Jeri's family has gone out of it's way to keep her out of sight from those with control so she doesn't end up vivisected. Making Jeri even more messed up with how to fell towards her step-mother.

Rikamon has remained rogue and is becoming increasingly violent. Along with other former humans, on top of this 'wild ones' continue to bio-emerge/realize, making things go even more chaotic for the tamers and their partners as they're forced to fight digimon who used to be, human, and some who aren't, but both acting like full fledged savages being forced to erase them in self defense, making the idea of assimilating data feel too sickening to those who have managed to remember being human (due to contact with Jeri or will power or just being able to keep infallible reminders with them at all times that they can't rationalize away).

The original digimon of course are confused by this, since they've been assimilating data of fellow digimon they erase all along, and find it odd to let the data go to waste.

Which brings up the moral dilemma: either assimilating the data of former humans is okay, or it's wrong for digimon to cannibalize each other as they've been doing from the start.

Rikamon is the only one not to see a problem with it either way:

"Let me give you some free advice Rika." Lee said seriously.

"I don't need anything from you!" The fox retorted.

Lee ignored her. "You're all speed and no skill. You rely totally on being faster then your opponent to give you a win. But no matter what the episodes of Dragon Ball Z make you think, strength and speed are useless without the skill to use it."

"I don't watch that show . . . just a bunch of muscle brains busting each other's heads open."

The purple rabbit shook his head. "You're missing the point."

Rikamon feels a shadow after her and repeatedly seems to attack random digimon and non-living objects at random. The others begin to think Rikamon had finally gone insane and worry about how to contain her.

However Rikamon is whisked away. By IceDevimon.

The ice cave was empty and deathly silent. "Grandma, Mom, Renamon, Lee, I've woken up all alone. And I wonder why."

"Don't fret my dear. You are far from alone."

Three times when she had been honestly been afraid in her memory, the first when that horde of digimon appeared each demanding they be her partner digimon before they had all backed away at Renamon's appearance, the second had been before this own infection thing started when she had been staring down Gargomon's machine gun barrel one moment away from blowing her brains out, and the third just as this insanity began with an angry Takato looking down on her pinned body for calling him stupid.

Looking into the red center less eyes of this fallen angel of ice was quickly becoming number four.

IceDevimon explains that his original intend was indeed to become Rikamon's partner digimon, "I'm a cold hearted bastard, you're a cold hearted beotch, let's be buddies!" And seriously, Rika rejecting IceDevimon's offer in the original anime could have been done SO MUCH better. Instead of Rika looking IceDevimon in the face and seeing her reflection and waking up to her own personal flaws, she just gave the 'you're a bad guy and a freak so no way!' Which IMHO was seriously dull!

Sadly, IceDevimon figures that's impossible now with Rika's transformation, so like the true sociopath he is, decides to do the next best thing and assimilate Rikamon's data the old fashioned way.

While Rikamon no longer has a digivice, she still has a empathic link with Renamon. And Rikamon cries out to her guardian. Of course due to their own mutations Rumikomon and Seikomon also hear this cry, but Renamon happens to be closer and arrives at IceDevimon lair first.

Renamon fights with everything she has, along with Rikamon, but Renamon is not IceDevimon's target and he greatly just brushes her off focusing his attacks on Rikamon.

That was when –it- happened. Renamon was no longer in the ice cave watching IceDevimon slowly squeezing the life out of Rika. She was back in the digital world. In the deserted mountains her family had called home. The nameless Ultimate towered before her, crushing Reremon's neck. Her daughter's eyes managing to look at her in a plea for help just before she burst into data to be absorbed by her killer. But the scene didn't end. It only repeated itself. The monster's look of amusement, her daughter's her pathetic chocking noise as she tried to scream, her non-existent death cry, and her eyes. That plea for help that came too last doomed never to be answered.

The fox roared in a animal fury not like any she had made in times past or would again, and all the world before Renamon's eyes, turned blood red. "Get the away from my daughter!!!" And digivolves.

One eyes close, the other unfocused, Rika painfully looked up at her rescuer.

"Mo-ther?" Rikamon in her damaged and roughed up state is unable to tell Renamon from Rumikomon.

This time however, with added emotional motivation, which is the source of any digimon's power from their human other, Renamon destroys IceDevimon and assimilates him. However, Renamon doesn't -feel- stronger from absorbing him, but it seems to be psychological.

Something felt different, wrong, what, the data fox sought desperately an answer to. She didn't feel ill. Nor was she in any pain. The kitesune sought the truth at the core of her being. Renamon started at the sudden realization of what was different. She felt a wave of panic wash over her. Had the virus begun to affect her? Was she slowly becoming something unlike a digimon? She didn't understand! It was impossible but . . . She didn't want to fight. She wasn't tired or scared. She just didn't want to fight anymore. The single prime drive inherent in all south sector digimon was gone from her. She no longer desired to fight for fighting's sake. Renamon seriously considered the conclusion she was going mad. What digimon at the heart of their soul didn't want to fight? Even the childish Guilmon was a creature of battle at his center. It was just wrong! But, it didn't feel wrong, not really, it felt more, like a relief. Like a great pressure had been released from her. Renamon slowly breathed out, pressing her backside against one of the garden walls, lowering her body until she was sitting, her legs stretched on the dirt.

Why? Why should she feel this way now? It didn't make any sense. It just, didn't. What was the point of fighting (?): to absorb her foe's data until she was invincible? But what would she do with herself after that? What was the point of it all? Renamon realized she was asking questions no kitesune had asked before. That perhaps, no Digimon ever had asked before.

_[I] But why me? [/I]_ Renamon looked at the wall of Rika's bedroom. _[I] Is it because of her? [/I] _

After this, Rikamon finally comes home to the fox clan, with Renamon without any formalities or technicalities is silently accepted as a part of the Nonaka-mon clan. Rumikomon is just happy to have her daughter back with her. Rikamon is left confused about who to consider her mother while Rumikomon begins to realize the short comings as a parent she's had.

A dividing attitude begins to form along the mutant digimon, not along who remembers themselves and who doesn't, but along who accepting duels to the death then cannibalism as socially acceptable and those who don't.

Jeri's family happens to be one of the pacifist attitudes and Calumon now scared of all the digimon he doesn't know if they'll hurt him or not, comes to Jeri's home to be as a temporally resident, he's assumed to be an orphan by Jeri's folks who with the martial law the city is now under take him in. Jeri is almost never let out of the house, and when she is, she's told to cover most of herself to keep people from seeing she's still mostly human.

Impmon had been reduced to the local punching bag due to his big mouth and relatively low combat prowess. Freaked out by the humans 'stealing' a digimon's superior form. His jackass attitude doesn't help matters in the least.

After one such beat up, a "BlackCupidMon" (fan mon) and Yaamon find the beaten and broken Impmon who wanders to their particular house subconsciously after having his wits beaten out of him. The two instantly recognize Impmon as their 'best friend' and of course the two digimon are Aimon and Mikomon.

Their parents, a Boogeymon and Darcmon think Impmon is going to be nothing but trouble. But Aimon and Mikomon's kindness shine through their species types patch him back together. With nowhere else to go, and with things beginning to turn violent, Impmon -very- begrudgingly choses to stay. Much to the two little devils' relief.

With supplies now being controlled, the Matsuki bakery begins to suffer from supply loss and causing prices to rise, and making the V-dramon and Allomon having to resort to force to get their customers to be civil more and more.

Kenta and Kazu find themselves on the pro-violence side of the fence with their families.

Chou**-**Senseimon of course like any self respecting martial artist digimon remains on the side of common sense.

Rikamon's family is for the most part neutral (or TRY to be at least).

Asagimon is emotionally horrified not wanting to see any of her students harm each other. As an angel-line evolution digimon, she can't stand such meaningless death.

Leemon suspects the humans are keeping them in -wanting- the digimon to just swallow each other, but this is never proven nor disproved in story. Richie manages to sneak in what he can to his family from the outside.

Charles M also presented a scene where Yamakimon, not taking no for an answer, EXTRACTED the information of Tally out of Riley, forcing Riley to force her out as a digi-egg, and then Yamaki used the digimon dismantler to force Riley back to adulthood. I originally rejected this scene, but now I'm not so sure if I would now.

Renamon stumbles on Takato's old device and choses to hold onto it for now.

Yamakimon though now bordering on insanity keeps onto his human memories, Rileimon and Tallimon while now fully mentally altered stay by him out of loyalty.

Yamakimon TOALLY sweeping under the rug any and all proof that he created Final Solution that later became The Infection.

Using what precious respect and control he has left after his mutation, Yamakimon finds Janyuumon and manipulates him into beginning to help program Juggernaut.

Yamakimon at this point plans to wipe out all digimon and infected humans, reading between the lines that the virus is beginning to get around inconviences like hazmat suits and figures it only a matter of time before the whole world becomes infected and the human race ceases to exist. So he plans to wipe out all plague carries, not missing for a second that includes himself and his two ladies.

Fearing that the virus could be transferred via technology Kai and others on the outside have no contact with those on the inside. Any digimon that tries to fly out of the zone is blown up by several rounds of simultaneous tank fire.

Yamakimon finally has everything he needs from Janyuumon and activates Juggernaut: Himself, and his ladies are the first ones erased.

The weaker willed digimon begin to move like zombies to the singularity to be consumed and erased.

But it doesn't last for long as the 'vacuum' turns off, and the entire building begins to shake like mad.

That's when the weird voice is heard from the sky, speaking of the new beach front this represents and the expansion of the rule of the digimon. Some mon cheer, others are freaked out, and some just confused.

The six mon and one hybrid of the hour of course know from the way this person is talking that he's bad news. The foxes and dog-rabbits both make a foreword assault at the top of the hypnos building, coming face to face with the tiger deva, who even four on one easily beats them into the ground.

The tiger declares anyone who doesn't accept their place in the new order will be deleted.

Seeing the abuse his team mates are put through, Takatomon breaks into the fray, having held back because Jeri has feared Takatomon going feral again. Sadly they no longer have a choice.

The Growl-Takatomon is tough, very tough, but all he can do is ultimately take damage. Jeri's digivice finally begins to pick up information on the beast.

The information didn't appear instantly when it finally came like it normally did, it came one letter at a time, as if building dramatic tension.

Mihiramon FIRST SIGN: THE WINGED TIGER OF COURAGE.

Kazumon and Knetamon show up to though unable to do anything but bear witness.

Growl-Takatomon is bitten and bitten hard, and Jeri swears she feels her own bones crack, naw, -crunched- from the cat's fangs.

Jeri feels that if Takato-mon dies then it's all her fault! And she... she... she struggles with her own emotions on what she feels for him, wondering if it's tamer or a friend and suffers flash back to what Takato-mon before about what being partners meant.

She wants nothing more than to be there with him, and wonders if she had been fully infected if she could along side him.

"What? What is this?" Jeri looked around at the class room. Her class room. Empty except for her. And a naked human Takato.

She started at the naked Takato in front of her and covered her eyes, daring a peak a moment later she saw he was fully clothed.

The vision of Takato in the nowhere classroom took hold of Jeri's card hand. He placed her hand over his chest. "I'm right here Jeri. Don't ever forget that."

Jeri snaps back to reality and shouts, "Takato . . . the rest of me might not be there but my heart is right besides you!"

That was all it took, and a sly little program that had been smuggled into each digimon game card, took it's go ahead sign with great zeal, and began to rewrite the programming of the modify card.

"Wha . . . what is this?" Jeri blinked at the glowing object in her hands.

"A Blue Card!" The card that had converted Lee, Takato, and Rika's card readers into digivices. What would it do to a card reader already change?

"Is this my friendship for Takato, personified?" Jeri wondered. She also realizes she has nothing left to use and card slashes it.

=MATRIX DIGIVULTION=

"E-vo-lution!!" Calumon shouted his head feeling like it was going to explode.

And Takato-mon evolves to ultimate and becomes his own creation of Metal/WarGrowlmon (I have to agree to with the dubbers on this one, Takato is such a fanboy he would have made his fan digimon that on ultimate level would be named like the hero in the show's mega level).

Enraged at this impossibility, Mihiramon attacks the cyborg dragon even more viciously than before but much more wildly and less focused as well.

"The catalyst is lost! How could you digivole to this level!? How? How! Answer me!"

From their synergy, Jeri and Takato end up saying much the same thing at the same time.

"You'd be surprised what's possible when you chose to fight for those other than yourself!"

"I fight for the Digimon Sovereign you forgery!"

"Whose that?"

"Your new king and of this entire world!"

"Not going to happen!"

"You can't do a thing about it!"

WarGrowlmon cuts the Mihiramon's tail off. "NOT POSSIBLE!IMPOSSIBLE! I am a godly general!- How dare you! HOW DARE YOU!!"

"You know! It never fails! You psychotics always act invincible . . . until you have to face something at your own stage!"

MetalGrowlmon threw the winged tiger by the tail stub into the air. The holy beast righted itself in mid-air, 'what a thoughtless move, all I have to do now is dive at my enemy head on!'

"Atomic Blaster . . .fire!!!"

The Tiger Deva is erased and assimilated. In his death screams he taunts that his deletion means nothing, and he is but a forerunner, and this entire 'sector' (best word he knows) will belong now to his master one way or the other already.

Then Juggernaut's programming is screwed over with final solution's, and causes a MAJOR reality flux, completely rewriting the entire city of Tokyo into an extension of the digimon world, with building memories, and social structure to match.

As to be expected however, those with D-Vices and those with connections with them are spared the memory rewrites. Meaning those close to Jeri at the time and the families of the three main tamers plus Jeri's.

The remaining Devas descend to act as vassal lords for the virus god mega, and basically impress and organize the human world digimon into soldiers for an all out war with humanity. For any of the kids with an incline of relatively unbiased national (japanese) history this is a gruesome prelude to a repetition of history.

The Devas also begin to ruthlessly hunt for Calumon, the virus god mega planning to use the mutated humans as Mega-Digimon battle fodder against the True Enemy. After all, it's not like they're REAL digimon, why should he feel sorry if they're all slaughtered in the process? If the true enemy is destroyed or greatly hindered, then good. If not, too bad.

The Devas, incredibly individualistic and proud, hunt down Calumon individually.

I'd have Jeri's family end up being erased for protecting him, but I'm just not cruel hearted enough to completely and utterly destroy Jeri's sanity with about zero chance for recovery. Instead their home is destroyed and the Tamer kids are branded as enemies of the state and their families as well.

Rikamon and Lee-mon slowly begin to regain the power to enable their partners to digivolve to champion and beyond deleting the Snake and Rooster Devas respectively in protection of Calumon.

Shibumi being outside of the field of the reality warp, is still human, and on top of that is able to send his data ghost into the warped of the real world, and begins to sublimely supply the Tamers with unique modify cards to tip the scale in their favor.

Leemon and Janyu-mon work together to try and figure out a way to undo the virus and the reality warp, since there are elements that remained constant, Janyu-mon believes that rather than being destroyed and remade, that reality and themselves were all just 'recolored.' Meaning the pattern STILL exists, they just need to put the right colors in. Suzimon of course compares this to when her teacher tells her the grass is supposed to be green not blue, and father and son laugh and have to fully agree on that. Janyu-mon also receives one way messages from a mysterious person who also helps him with figuring out how to find a real cure for The Infection and the reality warp.

Rikamon who happens to be there at the time (the kids needing to move around now that they're considered criminals) and comments on the positive relation Leemon has with his parent and mentions off handedly the difference between her father and his.

"I . . I didn't know you remembered him."

"Not much, just enough to hate him." As twisted as it sounded, Rika hated her father for not being able to hate him. The few memories she had of him were all good ones. Contrary to the gossip in her school, her father had never abused her mother, or her. He had simply walked away one day, left, vanished. For reasons Rika didn't even know, and if her mother and grandmother knew, they were talking.

"Rika what DO you remember about your father?"

"Not a thing!" Rikamon said completely contradicting what she had just said.

Leemon asks, "He abused you didn't he? That's why your mom threw him out huh?"

The next moment, he was up against a wall, and Rika's eyes were those of a killer, while her body was in the perfect position for a fatal attack. "You say that EVER again I SWEAR I'll kill you!"

The Devas Pajiramon and Vajramon find and attack Calumon's latest hiding place. Never having had to face the Devas more than one at a time before, the Tamers are completely caught off caught and off center the devas surprising team work.

Rikamon finds herself about to be deleted.

Rika's father as a blue Kyuubiemon saves her life at the price of his own arriving on the scene almost too late. She doesn't learn who it was until later. Or rather, if you define later as his dying breath as he digi-vaporizes.

He hadn't been strong enough to resist his urges towards Rumiko and had taken her. He hadn't been strong enough to face the responsibilities that stood before him and had run like a coward. He hadn't been strong enough to come back and face his failures until it was almost too late. And at last, he hadn't been strong enough to protect his own flesh and blood, he had always been weak.

"Ru . . .ki-"

He does however provide enough of a distraction for Pajiramon to be erased.

Rikamon is given the hollow comfort of: "Maybe . . . maybe he'll reinitialize." Rationalized by his data not being assimilated.

Vajramon however, even if Calumon is lost, decides to take Rika as a prize back to his master the other tamers unable to stop him as he dissembles his data and Rikamon's and reassembles somewhere else.

Rikamon is taken before the virus god mega, and is rewritten into a new Deva heavily brainwashed (reprogrammed?).

Her name even becomes written in the stars so to speak like the other devas.

Perhaps even her own father's data is used in a sick or cold hearted twist to boost her information level. She is then set loose on her fellow Tamers with Vajramon who basically treat her like a replacement Pajiramon.

Once again facing two Devas, the remaining Tamers are incredibly out matched this time Calumon isn't even with them, they'll just beat the catalyst's location out of the heroes.

Calvary arrives in the odd form of the Nonaka clan, who attack Rika-mon three on one. This enables the Guilmons and the chocolate and vanilla favored bunnie dogs to out number and out maneuver Vajramon and against three ultimates at once falls.

Seikomon decides to use the most practical measure to get her granddaughter to come with them. A 'sealing spell' that paralyzes her.

Surprise, surprise, the sealing paper actually did manage to paralyze Rika. Not that it did much good in curing the disease.

Shabumi begins to smuggle the digi-gnomes into the human world.

Not willing to keep her as a statue forever, the seal on her is removed after Janyu-mon tries his hardest to SOMEHOW with a bit of technological wizardry to remove or at least restore Rika's personality and original mind-set.

Like a rabid animal, Rika smashed her head repeatedly against the hard surface.

Seikomon observes, "'When elephants fight, it's the grass that suffers. With the different pieces of Rika's personality going at it, the battle ground is getting torn to pieces."

Renamon replies, "The battle ground. You mean her mind."

"Exactly."

Ever since the infection had first appeared, Rika had been stuck in a never ending cycle of losing herself, gaining herself, and each cycle her mind slowly degrading. It couldn't go on forever, or Rika would either end up a vegetable, or a rabid animal that needed to be dealt with. It had to end. Now. Here. Before she got even worse.

Renamon was past caring which Rika was left when it was all over. As long she continued in some way, the fox would count her blessings and live with it.

Renamon thought back to when she found Rika on the school rooftop. She had sensed three auras. Rika and Rikamon were now clearly two of them. What was the third one?

Seiko-mon and Rumiko-mon's wishes for a way to help Rika end up sending more or less mentally into Rika's mindscape with the help of nearby digignomes who decide to grant the wish with so much emotional force behind it.

When Renamon arrives Rikamon and Rika are having it out.

"You sad little girl." Rikamon smirked crossing her arms. "Why not just let go and leave me be?"

"To hell with you!" Rika snapped.

"I'd say your mother would die if she heard you using such langue except of course she couldn't care less about you. Who could care for an accident?"

"Accident!" Rika screamed at her other self. If physical harm would do any good in this place she would have used it then and there. "Mom and dad were married!"

Rikamon wagged a finger back and forth. "You know, without needing to maintain your armored shell, you, -I-, am actually more collected than my human self. But actually, you, we, did figure it out a long time ago, we simply blocked it out of our conscious mind, we didn't want to know the truth. Just tell me this Rika, when's your birthday, and when is mom's anniversary? It's funny how we remember two days we hate with a passion huh?"

Against her will, she did the math in her head. Even when crying for her lost humanity, she had never felt more like the little girl who had watch her father leave one day and never come back without a word of explanation. The dates were not even eight months apart.

"Why are you clinging to something you've hated for over half your existence? But since I'm you I already know the answer. You're just scared. Scared of leaving it all behind . .. When really . . . you're not leaving anything behind at all. You're nothing more than a hole in a precaution to your mother. Renamon at least loves you."

"You're right. Renamon does love me. I can't deny that fact anymore . . . which is why I'm staying and you're out of here!"

"Huh?!" "Renamon would never want me to give up who I am. And we're wrong about something, no matter how I came about, mom does love me. She could have just walked into THAT building, and ended all her troubles right there, she could have put me up for adoption but she didn't. There were dozen paths she could have taken that didn't include me."

"Because she's stupid!"

"No . . . we're both fools. We had to tell ourselves mom didn't love me. It was the only way we couldn't love her back. Look foxy! I no longer care if I have to see your face every time I look in the mirror for the rest of my life! But it's going to BE my life! "

However, Rika proves to be little match for Rikamon, Renamon however, does in the great hallways of the vast version of the Nonaka mansion that is Rika's mindscape finds a lonely little girl. Ruki.

Ruki begs for Rika to accept her. Rikamon wants to see the little runt dead once and for all. Renamon battles Rikamon with Rika... but it's with Ruki's SINGING that gives them the power to defeat and assimilate Rikamon. Ruki, after much shouting, denial and arguing, exhaustedly accepts Ruki and Rika's fractured mind is fully healed for the first time in YEARS.

When Rika wakes up, she sings. Much to the surprise of everyone she also fully accepts the name Ruki, though she doesn't object to the name Rika since that's what her friends know her as.

Calumon, tired of hiding, wanders about and eventually finds Impmon, and being Calumon, does his normal act being friendly towards Impmon in spite of Impmon's previous vicious behavior. Though now it's been significantly pacified, or at least focused in a new direction.

Sadly, with most of the city believing they've always been devoted to Zhuqiaomon, he's ratted out quickly... by Aimon and Makomon's parents.

Indramon is sent quickly to capture Calumon, while the remaining Devas decide to act as interceptors against the tamers, who are forced into touch and go tactics not being a match for the remaining Deva's massive firepower.

Impmon surprised himself by honestly wanting to protect Calumon. Aimon and Makomon of course chose to stand by and protect their best friend as well. A nearby digignome again out of sight provides a D-vice to the two in-training little devils whose VERY surprising act of maturity enable Ai to evolve into a lighter colored Impmon.

The combined heart of the two and wild imagination, enable him first to evolve into purple colored Boogeymon, and then into Mephismon with a crude blue card drawn by Makomon (he thinks it's an original idea he had). Being caught off guard by the insignificant runt of a digimon, Indramon is erased.

Calumon is given a harsh lesson by the tamers who are given news by the foxes about Impmon's victory. So the tamers scatter and are lost by the devas.

Sadly this means that until everyone's real memories are restored, Makomon and Aimon are both better off away from their wrathful parents, which confuses and horrifies the four/five year olds utterly. This remains a problem as they are told by family and friends completely conflicting things, the five year olds are simply confused and terrified.

While the virus mega has control over Tokyo, natural born digimon continue to slip in through the cracks into the city. Leomon is one of him, really hoping to get away from the pointless and his personal humble opinion "utterly stupid" fighting of the digital world and wonders what the heck is going on when he bio-emerges.

Jeri feels NEED to go to the park that she can't just shrug off, and goes with Takato-mon. There she runs into Leomon and instantly falls heads over heels for him with a giant crush.

"Uh.... do you have something in your eye?"

"Hi! I'm Juri but you can call me Jeri, it's rhythms with cherry!" Jeri's tail wags up and down like a lever as she's saying this with a big fan girl look on her face and sparkling eyes holding her hands together and leaning towards him almost defying gravity.

The others wonder if there's a storm somewhere as they hear some deep low growling. Of course it's coming from Takato-mon whose looking at Leomon with more than a little green eye jealousy.

Leomon DOES notice this as tries to politely back off but Jeri is infatuated with Leo's very presence.

Kumbhiramon recklessly attacks Jeri and Takato-mon using his multiplication technique to ever out the numbers. Takato-mon determined to prove himself to Jeri makes several bold yet senseless moves which end costing him dearly. One of the Kumbhiramon attacks Jeri head on but Leomon comes to her rescue, making Jeri even more entranced by him. Kumbhiramon tells Leomon he's doomed himself by protecting the 'hybrid freak' but Leomon doesn't care, disgusted at the dishonor the servants of the god megas are showing. Leomon and the two guilmons prove how inferior Kumbhiramon's clones are as they begin to coordinate their attacks with Jeri's help wiping them out.

Takato-mon is Heavily damaged. Leomon now with no place else to go, agrees to help Jeri carry him back to their current hide out. None of them realize one of the Kumbhiramon escaped the battle and informs his fellows.

Makuramon uses his shape shifting to trail behind Jeri and co. At the same time, Vikaralamon is sent to attack the place head on to provide a distraction along with Kumbhiramon. While the tamers are forced to deal with the combined slow but steady unstoppable force of Vikaralamon and Kumbhiramon's endless flow of copies, Makuramon manages to sneak in and grabs Calumon.

The other two devas retreat, the tamers "no longer mattering" now that Calumon was in their position by their logic.

Initially the Devas feel no need to take Calumon to the digital world and instead only to the personal castle that the devas had constructed for themselves where the Hypnos Towers once stood. This is because they intend to use the form-humans all as mega-fodder anyway so no need to take Calumon away from the raw material.

This changes when the tamers, and their families plus Leomon strike an all out assault on the Deva's Castle. Thinking the catalyst is no longer safe, Zhuqiaomon order Calumon brought to the digital world. Vikaralamon and Kumbhiramon are left behind not with the intent of defeating the tamers, merely to delay them long enough for Calumon to be spirited away (not that they are told this). Both Antylamon and Chastsuramon object to this tactic but are overruled.

Finding the Deva's castle otherwise empty, the heroes pursue the Devas and Calumon through the portal in the castle, or would if Majiramon didn't blast it to bits just as they were about to....

The still brainwashed and reality wrapped population of Tokyo is confused by the Deva's sudden departure and are left unsure of what to do.

Guilmon following his own instincts wanders to where his old hiding place is, or was depending if it survived the 'reality re-coloring' or not. Digging a rabbit hole, he finds a gate to the digital world.

Janyu-mon choses to stay behind still wanting to find a cure for The Infection... The Tamers and their twins plus Leomon (In for a penny, in for a pound.) of course go in after Calumon. However Rumikomon and Miemon both insist on coming along as well. The dummy duo sneak along for the ride, also kinda afraid that the city is gonna turn into a war zone quickly without the devas around to keep order.

Many of the events in the digital world happen as in the original series, though the parents end up in the groups with their respective offspring when the data streams begin to reek havoc. The visit to Jijimon and Babamon's house gives Rumikomon a fresh batch of advice similar to her own mother's, but hearing it again about what it actually means to be a mother hammers hard since Jijimon and Babamon never had offspring of their own. Kentamon and Kazumon are also some first hand lectures about courage.

When Takato's group encounter the digi-bike Behemoth, it enslaves Impmon opposed to Guilmon, and forces him to evolve to the corrupt Beelzemon thankfully the evolution can only hold while the bike has a hold on him. While everyone tries to think of ways to get Impmon off the bike (ranging from possible to down right silly)) Miemon decides to take the direct approach and just punches him square in the face knocking him off the bike. Now without a rider, Behemoth tries to make a grab for Leomon, but Jeri uses the card PowerFreeze on Leomon preventing a corrupt evolution and totally confuses Behemoth. Jeri however is confused on how she was able to use a card slash on Leomon.... Enough is too much however as War-Takato-mon blasts the bike into scrap metal.

When Rika-mon's group encounter Ryo, everyone is confused by Ryo's apparent immunity to The Infection, but Ryo manages to brush it off as them being in the digital world and thus the virus therefore must not be able to tell the difference.

The encounter gets MUCH MORE awkward when Rumikomon decides to try to pair up Ryo and Rika-mon. Much to Ryo's discomfort (though silent amusement) and Rika-mon's not so silent agitation.

Like before Ryo leaves the group for their own safety when CyberDramon begins to act feral after killing Majiramon.

The heroes ALMOST reach Calumon, but are cut short by Chatsuramon and the monkey and rabbit's deva's entrance.

They also encounter the last thing they'd expect, Yamaki-mon and co, or at least their digimon selves having been reinitialized. Rika-mon desperately looks for some sign of her father, but finds none, and finally allows herself to cry and mourn his loss. And does Rumiko-mon, the emotional shock causing her human memories or at least the truth of things to awaken in her.

Kazumon's encounter with Andromon/Guardromon goes pretty much the same, though Guardromon does at first make Kazumon his squire, the appearance of Kazu-mon's digivice awakens his human memories.

Kentamon also meets with a Gomamon who Kentamon comments isn't anything like in the TV show: Polite, cuddly, open, and barely says a word! Gomamon doesn't get what the weird digimon means by that but decides to follow him as a crush. Much to Kentamon's creeping out.

When Shabumi meets with Takato-mon and Lee-mon he reveals just how much he's been involved from the beginning, and that he's Janyu-mon's mysterious partner in crime. He also thinks that the D-Arc might just hold the key to undoing The Infection's effects, but he doesn't know precisely how yet. Which confuses the mon only more so.

When Suziemon literally just stumbles into the digital world, the random raw data from the digital tumble weeds causes Suziemon to evolve to rookie. She also gets chased by a few random digimon putting her new legs to work since as a digimon she's free food opposed a strange weird creature to the other digimon about.

She's saved from hungry digimon by Antylamon, who wonders where this strange little digimon came from. When she introduces herself with a double name, "Suzimon" and "Gummymon" Antylamon puts two and two together, and tells the girl she should REALLY go back to where she came from before someone sees her. Suziemon of course points out the wild mons who saw her, and Antylamon corrects herself, "No, I mean, before my friends see you."

"Why is that a bad thing?"

"Because... they don't like er, digimon like you so you really should go."

"Well, if they're going to be mean then they really don't sound like the kind of people you should be friends with."

This over simplistic logic catches Antylamon off guard but only slightly. Antylamon sighs and asks exactly what Suziemon is doing here. Suziemon explains her search for Terriermon.

Figuring the sooner Suziemon finds her friend and is out of there the better, so Antylamon agrees to help look for him.

They have the bad luck sadly of running into Antylamon's teammates. And demand that Antylamon disposes of the 'infectious fake digimon.' Antylamon demands they have themselves committed: this... does not go over well.

When the tamers arrive on the scene, they're stunned to see a deva protecting Suziemon from the two other devas! However, the virus god mega is not amused by this and reduces Antylamon to rookie level right in the middle of the fight! Before the tamers can rush in to run interference, the devas chose to erase the traitor and the garbage.

Still holding Suziemon Antylamon blocks an double attack from both Devas meant for the former human. Instead of being blown to data bits however as the attack hits Suiziemon and Lopmon BIOMERGE TO CHERUBIMON!

The new mega proceeds to trounces and ultimately deletes Makuramon. Chatsuramon retreats calling Antylamon a murderous traitor and lunatic and a fool and just about any other insult he could think of.

The two separate... and out pops one Lopmon, and out pops one Suzie Wong/Shaochung "Shiuchon" Lee!!! Suzie's human memories come back with full force, she's surprised and confused by what her memories are now telling her, and by the weird pink doohicky in her hands. The -mon all stare... it takes several seconds for Suzie to realize she's naked! Well... she hasn't been wearing clothes in months... what did you expect? While Suzie spends a bit prancing around the digital world in her birthday suit, thankfully part of Antylamon's scarf as it turns out fell off turning the battle and fits suzie like a toga.

Shibumi's data ghost shows up saying he thinks he's figured out a way to revert the former humans back to their original species, and, "Oh, never mind, I see you've figured it out for yourselves."

The tamers do at this point do figure out all they need to do with bio-merge with their partners to become human again. Of course this doesn't solve the problem for everyone in the human world who ISN'T a tamer or the fact Tokyo's architecture and shape of reality have been completely altered to that of the digital world.

Shibumi says he thinks he and Janyu-mon are coming close to figuring out a solution on there end but they'd need hands on information on the old Juggernaut program for it have any decent chance of working.... Yamaki-mon steps up to attention in and Shibumi wishes that solutions were handed to him this easily in collage!

Jeri picks up the very real problem of what would happen she and Takato-mon merged even if the others don't pick up on it.

When the heroes make to the plateau, they figure that they can take on one Deva which they figure is all that stands between them and Calumon. But Lopmon knows better and begs the heroes not to fight her master but to no avail.

Zhuqiaomon meanwhile spots Guilmon among the group, not wanting to so much as touch any of the 'false digimon' with his power, and feeling the rest are somehow protected from his influence (including Gomamon. I'm not sure when Kenta's D-Arc would appear, perhaps after all the dust settles and Kenta realizes his partner was besides him all along). Of course Zhuqiaomon is ignorant of Guilmon's origin (otherwise he'd have never dreamed of 'blessing' such an 'unnatural' digimon with any 'gift' from himself.)

Chatsuramon begs his master like the dog he is to face the heroes. Instead Zhuqiaomon pulls his last card and opens up a portal underneath Guilmon's feet and drop into a lava pool and infuses him with the data of the fallen Devas, mutating him into Megidramon, much to the horror and shock of both Jeri and Takato-mon.

Chatsuramon begins to fear for his master's sanity, but as a good doggy he doesn't speak this.

The -mon and mon are no match for one of the Four Great Dragons, let alone one who carries the end of the world in it's gut.

Sensing the sheer havoc that is happening, Ryo with one of the other god megas still a while behind shows up, but Cyberdramon is also easily tossed around like a rag doll by the beast.

Hearing Takato-mon say how BADLY he wants to SAVE Guilmon, Jeri realizes what needs to happen. She deeply wishes that she could help Takato fulfill HIS wish.

Bio-Merge Into Gallentmon/Dukemon.

Dukemon and Megidramon do battle, Dukemon however refusing to strike a fatal blow since this isn't Guilmon's fault. So Dukemon is trapped between the dragon of purgatory and a hard place.

One of the names for Gallentmon's attack is 'Final Purification' and as a great gamble uses it on Megidramon, it reduces Guilmon to his in-training form, or perhaps to his digi-egg form, but either way he at least isn't deleted.

Chatsuramon pops up at this point to crush the life out of Suzie, but Guardromon grabs one of the giant pillars that make up the south bridge, (broken off during the battle with Megidramon) and uses it like a baseball bat to sending Chatsuramon flying back to his lord in data bits.

All the Tamers stood stunned at the dust cloud Guardromon's make shift hammer had made. Rika-mon looked at Renamon expectedly. The kitsune-mana crossed her arms. "I could do that but I don't want to."

Ryo and Shabumi this is also a chat between Ryo and Shabumi.

The legendary tamer stopped just as he was about to exit the room and turned his head to face the ghost. "Can you answer me one question?"

Shabumi raised an eyebrow. "Only one?"

Ryo sighed. "What is real?"

"Something, or someone," the man said profoundly. "That needs only itself to be defined."

Gallentmon separates... and Jeri uses all of her will power to make sure the fission happens the way she wants it too. The end result is a naked Takehiro Matsuki (thankfully he's able to find gallentmon's disconnected cape)... and the beast-man (girl?) type digimon Jerimon. Jerimon has no clue she used to be human, nor does she have any clue what Takato is sad about.

The heroes have no choice however but to continue on and enter the now almost completely empty palace of the south sector god mega.

Zhuqiaomon is less than pleased that the abominations could have made it this far and demand Lopmon return to him. Lopmon reluctantly and painful refuses her deity's command saying his plan to use the former-humans as sacrificial lambs is wrong. This shocks all the humans and -mon/mon present.

The other god megas outside arrive on the scene. Along with their ward Alice McCoy and Dobermon who uses the ruckus caused by the tamer's entry to locate and free Calumon.

the various mon try their hardest to take down the deity level digimon but to no avail. Before they can be blasted into oblivion however, the three other god megas -force- they way into Zhuqiaomon's palace demanding to know what Zhuqiaomon exactly thinks he's doing!!!

Zhuqiaomon rants and raves how the link between humans and digimon becomes more abominable with each passing event, and he can't allow it to continue, and that all his actions have been for the greater good of the digital world and it's digimon!

His justification becomes a moot point sadly when the D-reaper it turns out due to the massive increase in the number of digimon in the real world and digital world extension in the real world, it has become increasingly active and violent far ahead of the original timeframe for it's development and begins to eat Zuqiaomon's palace from the bottom up! This forces all to flee and retreat. Alice reveals herself and gives him to the Tamers who are overjoyed to have their friend back. Calumon happy since Alice didn't have any cream puff and he's hoping the tamers have some!

Shabumi is amazed to see that Alice is alive and that Dolphin will be overjoyed at the news. Alice comments she's not sure 'alive' in the traditional sense of the word is the right way to describe her.

Calumon and Gomamon play patty-cake, and Gamamon warp evolves into MarineAngemon much to both mon's shock.

Yamaki-mon, Janyu-mon and Shabumi on the while all come to the same startling conclusion. A human turned digimon would be poison to the reaper in it's current state since it hasn't had a chance to sample human data before now and the paradox of human/digimon data would create a run time error in it's programming. Just one problem, said -mon would end up being erased: totally.

Ruki-mon decides to be the pragmatic one.

Rukimon sighed as she took on the illusionary form of her old human self with the slight difference her hair was now let down opposed to tied up and the heart on her shirt was, opposed to broken, whole (or is that mended?).

"You know Ruki . . . you're pretty when you let yourself be."

"Ruki, Rika, Reremon. Why do you humans, us humans, hold so much meaning behind things that are just markers anyway?"

"Because it's a lot nicer then just saying 'hey you over there.' Or at least. That's what I think."

"Which doesn't count for much."

"Does anyone's count for much?"

"I guess . . . it all depends on what you're saying . . .rather then whose saying it."

Rumikomon however beats Ruki-mon to the punch, only telling Renamon "Take care of her."

"I will."

And Rumikomon feeds herself to the D-reaper.... as predicted, killing it.

Ruki is shocked, horrified and confused, and finally call Rumiko her mother again to her face without any sarcasm or irony or spite. Renamon comforts her foster child as Rumiko wished.

The complete digimon Jerimon didn't know what she had forgotten to rescue Takato, but while everyone refused to say what it was, it was clearly causing Takato pain that she had forgotten. That wouldn't do at all. She couldn't stand to see him sad. That was when the digi-gnome came to her.

Jerimon looked the little digi-gnome in its black ever friendly eyes, it smiled back at her. It's innocent expression hiding the wisdom lying beyond.

"I wish, that I remembered what it was I forgot in order to save Takato."

And in the digital world, truth to one's self, is the ultimate reality.

"Dang. Don't you guys know Jeri getting her species and self back ruins the moment of sacrifice AND any fellowship she might have had with Rukimon?"

"Who cares? Transformation stories where the victim finds herself again are as impossible to find as happy endings in real life. Let's take them where we find them."

"Come on! In fan fiction it happens all the time! The protagonists get back to themselves and the plot goes along as if nothing happened!"

Lee took hold of the digimon's head and directed him at Rukimon. "Take a good look around you Terriermon! Then tell me that nothing is different! Then tell me that it's the same as if that infection had never invaded our lives."

Weeks later, using the Doodle Bug program, the monster makers are able to undo the reality warp done by the Phoenix god mega. This doesn't bring back the dead.

The pairs of tamers ultimately even themselves out, with the reuniting of Takato with Guilmon, and the joining of Jeri with Leomon, and of course Kenta with MarineAngemon and Alice receiving her D-Arc for herself and Dobermon.

Renamon being recognized as Rika's legal guardian takes an amazing long and hard amount of work, but thanks to some strings pulled by friends in high places it's pulled off. Meaning that Renamon is now expected to accept the responsibilities that come with part of being part of human civilization too!

Jeri also due to her fusion with Takato finds the courage to face her own demons and makes peace with her step mother.

It would end with Jeri and Takato leaning against each other on a bridge looking at the sun on the horizon, "It's a beautiful sunset isn't it?"

"Really? It looks more like a sunrise to me."

~ Fin

**Cast of Characters: **

**TAMERS **

Takato Matsuki -- Guilmon 

Ruki "Rika" Nonaka – Renamon

Henry Wong/Jianliang "Jenrya" Lee – Terriermon

Suzie Wong/Shaochung "Shiuchon" Lee – Lopmon

 Jeri/Juri Katou – Tamer of Leomon 

Hirokazu "Kazu" Shioda – Guardromon 

Kenta Kitagawa – MarineAngemon 

Ryo Akiyama – Cyberdramon 

Ai and "Mako" Makoto – Impmon

 Alice McCoy – Dobermon

Calumon

**HYPNOS **Mitsuo Yamaki  Reika "Riley" Ootori Megumi "Tally" Onodera

**FAMILY** Takehiro Matsuki – Takato's father Mie "Yoshie" Matsuki – Takato's mother Rumiko Nonaka – Rika's mother Seiko Hata – Rika's grandmother, Rumiko's mother Janyu Wong/Jiang-Yu "Janyuu" Lee – Henry and Suzie's father, Wild Bunch member, aka "Tao" Mayumi Wong/Lee – Henry and Suzie's mother Rinchei Wong/Lee – Henry and Suzie's elder brother Jaarin Wong/Lee – Henry and Suzie's elder sister Tadashi Katou – Jeri's father Shizue Katou – Jeri's stepmother Masahiko Katou – Jeri's stepbrother Hirofumi Shioda – Kazu's father Takako Shioda – Kazu's mother Shiyunsuke Kitagawa – Kenta's father Akemi Kitagawa – Kenta's mother

Ryo's Foster Father

**MONSTER MAKERS **Rob McCoy – Alice's grandfather, Wild Bunch member, aka "Dolphin" Goro Mizuno – Wild Bunch member, aka "Shibumi" Rai Aishuwarya – Wild Bunch member, aka "Curly" "Babel" – Wild Bunch member "Daisy" – Wild Bunch member

**SCHOOL** Nami "Asaji" Asanuma – teacher of Takato's class Toshiaki Mori – P.E. teacher, has crush on Ms. Asaji Seiji Kurosawa – school principal Mr. Iwamoto – teacher Ayaka Itou – Jeri's friend, striped shirt, pigtails Miki Nakajima – Jeri's friend, blue dress, purple hair ??? – Jeri's third friend, no name given in lineart book, brown bowl-cut hair, pink shirt, cream dungarees Yuuji Terayama – Member of Takato's class, brown hair, blue shirt Taizou Aoyama – Member of Takato's class, buzz-cut hair, red shirt Tadashi Nakabayashi – Member of Takato's class, chubby kid, yellow shirt Jeremy – Member of Takato's class, yellow shirt, dark hair ??? – Member of Takato's class, not in lineart book, blonde hair, red shirt

**OTHER CHARACTERS** ChouSensei – Henry's martial arts instructor

Wataru Urazoe - Kai's grandfather ("The Adventurers' Battle")

D-Reaper

**DEVAS "Twelve Divine Generals"**

Mihiramon "Tiger"

Sandiramon "Snake"

Sinduramon "Rooster"

Pajiramon "Sheep"

Vajramon "Ox"

Indramon "Horse"

Kumbhiramon "Mouse"

Vikaralamon "Boar"

Makuramon "Monkey"

Majiramon "Dragon"

Chatsuramon "Dog"

Antylamon "Rabbit"

**GOD MEGAS **

Zhuqiaomon Virus Phoenix of South

Azulongmon Data Dragon of East

Ebonwumon Vaccine Turtle of North

Baihumon Data Tiger of West

Fanglongmon Data Beast of Center

**Original Skeleton Summary **

Thirty five days later, all of Shinjuku (and some of the surrounding areas) has been fully mutated, and has been totally sealed off by the military. Henry's older brother sneaks in with the bio hazard group.

Yamaki and Riley realize the plague will continue to spread, and activate Juggernaut.

The Devas, who had been infiltrating this whole time, strike, and use the program to fully convert the city district into an extension of the digital world TOTALLY.

It becomes a war against the Deva's reality invasion, with Suzie eventually forming a bound with the rabbit deva.

The D-reaper, with all the new activity, crawls upwards and beyond. Making the Devas even more desperate to find Calumon (intending to use the new digimon as fodder).

Eventually it's discovered that bio-merging can cure people. Jeri choses to cure Takato rather than himself even if it means becoming a full digimon with the loss of most of her identity.

With the appearance of the D-reaper, it found that a former human digimon is poison to it's programming, and would kill it.

Rika's mother, sacrifices herself to posion the D-reaper.

Jerimon wishes that she could make right what was making Takato so sad, and is returned to normal by the digignomes. A similar program can used on the majority of humans as well. (but not all).

A happy ending with a price, but live goes on.

**Reviewers: **

Belletiger riderfan seadragon1012 PFalcon87 dragon4532 Holy-Psychic-Vulpix nightdragon0 (you were always one cool dude), ?, RocketGirl3052 Lunamew MWhaleK (it's been wonderful to read every review you have ever given me!) null-defunct riderfan GataFairy smartguy912, Myo Tismon, Andrew, java86, *, Xanderfox, cat, Gizensha, thunderdragon87, tremor3258 , The Guardian Prince , Sonata, Metamorphisis316 , sparkybw, Phoenix of The Glade, Dragon of the Surf, (thank you for all your beautiful reviews), Digimon Lantern 1 (you're one cool writer), MEgadeATH, , Sailor Crystal , Davis, gerjomarty , Shinobi, Waldo Terry, tremor3258 , Jamescole, Kanada (art is just so good), Storm Wolf77415 , Tom Servo (AKA Tom Servo 2.0),

Wolfen_Man, Sora-DigiLove , Black, Light Sneasel (I've positively absolutely loved every review you've given me), ?????????????, Threehorn ,mad-man , T.J. and Rikumon, (heh, nice sketch), Tache , Crow T R0bot, Dragon Shi , Ellen is my middle name , Fionn the Otaku, john on 'da john, Seigi Chojin , Aristide , Kara, Brett, deranged black kitten of doom , eliana, LIlMako17, Talachi, anonymous, SalanTrong , hee hee hee!, Sturmblut , LotusStar, teknofan William, jh, battleknight, Jack, CISELKANEO2 , Dragon and Sword Master , ominix , JCL, ajm88, Kistu , FictionFan29, DigitalArcane, The Chrono CO , A.J., Some guy, Bailin, Madd the sane , BlazeFox, Xenos tiger, JuMiKu , SuperSonic404 , drunken werewolf, whatisee ,Anonymous Phantom Writer , vicviper-pilot-T301 , Xavier, ash the digi 10, Shritistrang , CODENAME: METALsnake, Ryoko the demon fox, Sam PD, Black Knight Dai Michael J Angelo Tri-Emperor of The Twilight Rtas Light Lord Cybergate crosswire (I have to fully and utterly and completely agree with you.)

Aeon, "I accept this key, four locks on the door leading to the final task still remain, and less than ten days before it is closed forever...."


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